Any Moment Reprise
by Rebel Paisley
Summary: In which Dustin and Shane have issues with noticing things. Also, Cam and Hunter have issues with not being morons. It's kind of a problem. Cam/Dustin, Shane/Hunter
1. Prologue

Any Moment

Chapter 1

Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own power rangers, or anything remotely resembling power rangers. Wait- no, I've got a shirt.

And it's really awesome.

Summary: In which Dustin and Shane have issues with noticing things. Also, Cam and Hunter have issues with not being morons. It's kind of a problem. Cam/Dustin, Shane/Hunter (eventually).

Welcome to Any Moment Reprise! It is a shortened down, cleaned up version of a story I have already posted. In musical terms, a reprise, to quote Wikipedia is "_any repetition of an earlier song or theme, usually with changed lyrics to reflect the development of the story."_ It's like an encore, a short sweet taste of what we already had. The goal of the reprises was to streamline the story, work out some awkward wordings, and give the overall tale a tune up. Formatting, grammar, cliché's, all shall be nitpicked. I had wanted to cover both versions of the story in one week. Unfortunately I am full of _fail_, so I only managed to work out seven chapters of one version. The 'A' version, so decided as everyone gets a happy ending.

Heads up: This 'A' version has a _lot_ trimmed off of it. Have no fear though; if there's a favorite chapter of yours missing odds are it will be in the 'B' version.

Regarding endnotes: As I have already discussed the chapters in the first posting of the story the endnotes of the reprise's will now be solely comprised of short snippets of conversations I have with my sister (the Tempestuous Muse) while we edit this piece. Our general method is to have her read through it and tell me what doesn't work. It's the most effective way to catch all (or as many of the) errors possible.

I'm pretty sure most of this will get lost in translation but it made this process a lot more fun and entertaining for _us_ so hell, maybe you guys might like it too. Expect many wild references and utter nonsense. It's kind've what we do.

This chapter bounces between Dustin's and Cam's p.o.v.

Takes place during Thunder Strangers, Part 2-3

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><p>Though Dustin was not sure of many things in his life, he couldn't deny the fact that their zord battle against the Thunder punks had not gone well.<p>

Actually that was an understatement - if the sparking wires that had so nicely _not_ been sparking (or even visible) before the battle - were any indication. His cockpit looked like a tornado had hit it, and he felt like he had been caught in it. Having the biggest zord wasn't looking like such a good thing now. Biggest zord equaled majority of the damage. That hadn't been much of a problem until this point, but then again, they hadn't really gotten schooled until now.

No, that wasn't quite the right way to put it. They got owned. And not like kinda-owned, but completely-and-totally owned, which was something Dustin would've been more worried about if his back wasn't throbbing.

Slowly, the yellow ranger craned his head to see the cause of his discomfort, which appeared to be a giant piece of metal that used to be a support beam or…something, it was probably important, and was probably something else he should be entirely more worried about _not_ being in its proper supporting place, but again, _back in major pain_.

So…Cam was gonna be _mad._ And not funny-Cam mad, like that one time Dustin had switched Ninja Ops screensaver to these sick motocross pictures (he was just trying to share, you know, boost team morale) and the tech ranted/lectured for a little bit but it was still kinda funny; but like, _super,_ red, face-might-explode mad.

And that was not cool. It wasn't even entirely their fault either.

Well, the part where they had gotten beat up, _that_ might have been their fault, but the power disk interception thing…not cool man. That had to be like a foul or something.

Dustin didn't think that would really stop Cam from ranting at them though. Or, it might, but only for a little bit. Cam _did_ like his ranting. Sometimes Dustin thought the genius made up rules just so he could say they had broken them so he could yell at them some more.

Okay, Cam probably didn't, but…maybe Dustin should talk to him more, just in case.

That would be really sad if that was the highlight of his day.

Another wire sparking to life near Dustin's face drew him out of his mental side trip and back into the battle zone. How had nothing worked against those guys? The serpent sword hadn't worked and the megazord's lightning mode had done diddly against them and lighting mode was _awesome_. Didn't lightning trump thunder? Thunder was just noise. And there were only _two_ of them. Granted, they were two super angry-dudes with a chip on their shoulder, but having one more person should've counted for _something_. They weren't _that_ bad.

Dustin briefly wondered if they had seriously offended the Thunder Rangers by saving the world without inviting them, and maybe that was why they were mad, but if that had been the case wouldn't the other two rangers have stopped fighting them after the first round of butt-kicking? Had the repeat performance really been necessary?

Timidly, the brunette tried to shimmy his way out from under the beam to avoid being shocked by the mess that used to be his cockpit, but the thing wouldn't budge.

He could think of better ways to spend his evening.

Dustin started to bring his morpher to his mouth to call for the others but noticed that it, like his zord, was trashed so… waiting time? Yeah, waiting time.

How was he still morphed?

It wasn't long though (which was awesome because breathing was becoming a bit of an issue) before the yellow ranger heard the door open up behind him. He really hoped it was his team and not the other guys because right now he was a sitting duck - and really dumb looking - but the duck thing was the bigger issue, really. But seeing (or feeling, he supposed) as the person was attempting to pull the beam _off_ instead of trying to incinerate him; they were probably from his team. Unless the Thunders liked to look you in the eye when they destroyed you, which given their track record, would be fitting.

But they'd probably be taunting him too; it was like, in the rules.

"How well did you wedge this thing?"

It was Shane. Well, that was a relief; he'd just do the taunting and not the killing…and Dustin was rather fond of the not-killing, or destroying.

Tori was kind of touchy about wording.

"I didn't do anything," the brunette grumbled, gesturing vaguely in the red ranger's direction. "It was the guys shooting at us; it's not like I enjoy not-breathing."

In fact Dustin hated it, but Shane got what he meant; he was good with these kinds of things. That was one of Dustin's favorite things about Shane; he didn't really have to explain himself because the other ranger could fill in the blanks, like he was supreme master of Dustin-ese.

"Your talking says you breathe just fine," the leader teased in return, and he heard Shane shift to get his shoulder underneath the beam. Pulling on it must not be effective. Maybe the skater would have more luck than Dustin. Sure, being oddly hunched over didn't really help with leverage but Dustin had _really_ been trying.

"That's because I'm awesome…and…morphed."

Which was only possible because of a higher power, i.e., Cam. Dustin hoped they didn't power down soon, that would probably lower the chances of Shane getting the support off and, you know, breathing.

Shane seemed to get the message and tried jerking the beam to the side to give Dustin some more space. "If you're so awesome, why don't you get yourself out?"

The bar stubbornly stayed in place. It must be working for the Thunders.

_Hah, Thunder beam._

"And miss spending quality time with you? No way, dude."

Also, awesome people had other people do things for them. _Fact_.

"Right," Shane grunted, and, right, they were still talking. "Perish the thought."

There was some shuffling outside the door and then a soft call, "Guys?"

Enter Tori; so did that mean the bad guys had left the building? Good riddance. Dustin had read about evil rangers in his comic books, but they were so much worse in real life.

There was some more shuffling; sounded like she was probably trying to avoid wires, something Dustin wished he could be doing right now. "Are you in there?"

"Yeah," Shane called back. "Dustin's trapped."

"And not by choice," the yellow ranger added, just so no one would be confused.

Because confusion was their greatest worry right now, and not beam-death. Most certainly not beam-death.

_Death by way of beam._

"Help me get him out," The red ranger ordered, giving another push.

It was a good thing Shane was the red guy, because even though Tori was going to help anyway Shane telling her to was encouraging, because then there was a plan, and plans were awesome. If Dustin had said that it would've sounded ridiculous.

With Shane pushing and Tori pulling it wasn't long before there was a little give. The yellow ranger hurriedly pulled himself down to duck under it and…got his helmet stuck, which was not an improvement; it was worse.

At least now Dustin could see Shane, who was staring at him in disbelief.

"You're kidding me." The red ranger smacked the side of his helmet. "You've _got_ to be kidding me."

"I wish dude," Dustin helpfully replied. His face was only turning red because of the added pressure of the beam…that was it; it had nothing to do with him not thinking things through.

Nothing at all.

He gently started tugging his head down as far down as he could go, which wasn't much, and together he and Shane started pushing up on the stupid hunk of metal. Powering down now would not equal happiness; in fact, it would probably equal unhappiness, for Dustin's head, and the team, and they'd have to get another ninja to replace him but since Lothor took them all that would be an issue. Unless Cam did it. Could Cam fight? Cam would probably be an awesome ranger.

Dustin shared this thought with his friends.

Clearly, Shane was not impressed with his observation. "Right. Great. Can we focus?"

Well, at least they cared.

So it was back to saving Dustin's head time. The brace finally shifted again and Dustin scrambled back, Tori pulling him along, over his discarded chair. It landed with a thud just as their morphers ran out of juice, powering them down.

Well…_that_ was cutting it close. Dustin wondered if the morphers were broken if they still got enhanced healing (did that kinda thing stick with you?). He could feel the bruises pulsing from that stupid beam, and his head was really starting to hurt. It was ridiculous; he got his worst injury _after_ the battle? That was so lame.

_Curse you Thunder beam._

"Hey man, are you alright?" Shane asked, pulling the other two rangers up from the floor, and then making sure they stayed _off_ the floor.

It was a process that took longer than it probably should have due to the small space and mess they had to avoid.

"If I say no, will you carry me?" Dustin replied.

That would be sweet; the effects of being thrown around like a ragdoll were really starting to get to him. Not-walking sounded excellent.

Tori smacked Dustin's arm as they exited the Lion Zord. "You almost got your head smashed in; take it seriously."

She looked upset but he doubted it was because of his comment. Or at least, entirely due to his comment.

It was probably a girl thing.

Shane quickly stepped in for Dustin's defense. "Take it easy Tori; it's been a long day for all of us."

Yeah, score point to the hawk dude. It was nice to always have someone have your back.

Shane looked at him pointedly, as though he could hear his thoughts. "And no, you're going to have to walk."

So, not entirely having your back. But the thought counted.

"Bummer."

Dustin would live, but not-walking would've been really nice. Shane, despite his earlier complaint, helped him along anyway, pulling the yellow ranger's right arm over his shoulder as Tori led them away from their trashed zords.

"So," Shane started, readjusting his grip on Dustin's arm. "How mad do you think Cam's going to be?"

"Face explode," Dustin replied softly, ignoring the looks his two friends threw him as they made their way up the hill.

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While the morphers were more than capable of repairing themselves, Cam felt that a helping hand might speed up the process. Whatever he was speeding it up _for_ he remained uncertain, but he _was_ sure that there would probably be another attack as soon as the repairs were finished. So his goal was "just in the knick of time".

That often seemed to be his goal.

For once he had Ninja Ops to himself, which gave him plenty of time to contemplate the happenings of the past few days.

The extensive damage the Thunder Rangers had inflicted upon the Wind's zords was an issue, but not the biggest one. Comparatively, the two sets of morphers (the Wind morphers and the Thunder morphers) were evenly matched, seeing as they had come from the same place; the difference then had to be _how_ they were used. The Thunders had a motive, and whatever it was it was relentless. There was no other way they could so soundly defeat the Wind Rangers every time. It was almost frightening to imagine what could cause such outright fury towards another team of Power Rangers. The wearers themselves weren't naturally evil, they couldn't be, otherwise the power would never work for them. They were just _choosing_ an evil course of action, and something detrimental to their state of being had to happen to make them so easily discard their morals.

Or perhaps Cam was completely wrong and they were just evil. He _did_ only have one set of morphers to study after all. But he was confident in his assessment. He vaguely wondered if there would ever come a time when Lothor escalated his actions to such a degree that the Wind Rangers felt those same emotions. If they become just as unstoppable, Cam wondered what the cost would be.

It wasn't a pleasant train of thought.

Thankfully, he was interrupted from his musings by the sounds of someone descending the staircase; a glance up confirmed it to be Tori. Outwardly he didn't show it, but inside he couldn't help but smile because of the three of the chosen rangers Tori was the one he actually _liked_ talking to. It was disappointing that she had been dragged down in training by her two teammates (before this mess began); he had always felt she had much more potential.

However this wasn't a social call, (they never were); apparently one of the new guys in town had injured himself attempting to rescue Tori, and seeing as it was a Lothor-related attack she decided to bring him here instead of a hospital.

Even if her actions were out of guilt it was probably for the best, it wasn't like the hospitals were equipped to deal with this sort of thing.

Grumbling, Cam followed her to the outskirts of the waterfall where her wounded companion lay.

It was one of the guys Cam had heard Dustin and Shane speaking about earlier, of that he was certain. It was irrelevant though, this guy obviously wasn't that bright. Tori had told the tech she was at the beach when the newest of Lothor's army had assaulted her and that Blake (_that_ was his name) had rode up on his bike and "saved" her.

What had he been doing out there? According to what Cam had gleaned from Dustin's riding habits (a conversation that had more or less been thrust upon him) one usually rode at the track, or through forest trails, so what had this numbskull been doing at the beach?

Based on the doting looks Tori had been throwing the ever unconscious _Blake_ while the tech removed the cybernetic leeches that had rendered him in that state, Cam would say the boy was sweet on her. That might explain it. Or he was a stalker. Either way Cam decided he was not one of Blake's fans. Tori was more than capable of handling the situation on her own and the teen had probably just gotten in the way. So really, his injury was well deserved.

He had just wanted to play hero for his pretty damsel.

Cam couldn't really argue with that. Tori _was_ pretty. She was smart and not obnoxious, unlike _others_ from her age group. And to her credit she was also persuasive, convincing Cam not to inform his father about this transgression, if his father didn't already know about it.

He got a kiss for his efforts though, so that was nice. Chaste, on the cheek, but still nice.

It was more contact than Cam was accustomed to.

The tech would never dare speak it aloud but he often felt lonely. Being the sensei's son had never helped his predicament and the whole never-leaving-the-school thing proved disobliging as well. Now the only people he had constant contact with were the rangers and they treated him like an outsider, depending on him only for things like…well, like this. To say it was frustrating would be an understatement. Cam couldn't say they were bad company; he really couldn't, because he had never been given the opportunity to spend time with them outside their "working" environment.

As he kept vigil over Blake's inert body, he briefly wondered how much of that was his fault.

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There was nothing like a rush of adrenaline to take away all your worries. It was something about soaring through the air, dirt flying in all directions that made the day so much _better._ Whoever thought of combining high speeds with getting dirty was a genius, at least, in Dustin's humble opinion. Just about everyone else thought it was crazy, and that made it even more fun. This sport was made for him.

Shane was the one that had suggested it, and Dustin had to give it to his friend, when he was right, he was _right._ The brunette had been a little afraid that he might be too distracted for riding but once he got his bike beneath him all that other stuff just melted away. It was just him and the sky…and Shane, watching him be awesome with the sky. You would think his friend's presence might have added extra pressure for his tricks but for Dustin it was the exact opposite. He _loved _having an audience, especially when it was Shane because the red ranger could appreciate the distinct intricacies of what Dustin was doing, as where Tori just lectured him for taking too many risks. Hey, you had to "go hard, or go home", and Dustin wasn't going home.

It was lonely there.

But in order to get the applause he knew was coming (for which Shane was the Grand Master of doling out), Dustin would need to tear himself away from the world in the air he loved so much. It wasn't too terribly hard though; basking in praise was a pretty strong motivation.

As he pulled off the track, he spotted Tori with Blake by her van which…yeah, that actually made a lot of sense. Hunter had asked if Dustin and Shane knew where the younger Bradley was earlier, and it figured he'd be with Tori. Or like, Tori would be with him. There was something going on there, Dustin knew it, he just didn't know what it was. But he was willing to bet anything Shane did.

Normally Cam was the guy who knew it all, but when it came to stuff outside Ninja Ops it was all Shane. Good thing he was Dustin's best friend. Speaking of which…

"Dude you were sick out there!" The dark-skinned teen crowed, patting the curly-haired tenn on the shoulder as he pushed his bike off the track, off towards the equipment van. "Much faster than last time."

Inside Dustin cheered, reveling in the compliment. This was his favorite part of practice when he brought his friend along. He didn't usually fish for flattery, but it felt so…nice. Like, warm and fuzzy nice. Better than hot chocolate. And it wasn't like Dustin was going to get a big head about it, so no harm done.

"I know man, I was in the zone." Dustin's face broke out into a giant smile. It was good to be appreciated.

"And so humble." The other teen joked, jabbing him in the side lightly.

"Hey, when you got it, you got it right?" Dustin grinned, pulling off his helmet as they reached their destination. Further conversation was disturbed by a set of light footsteps coming up from behind them. Three guesses said it was Tori, finally done with Blake.

Shane grinned at her approach, settling against the van. "So, how's lover-boy?" he asked. "Do I need to beat him up? Defend your honor?"

"Didn't we already do this before?" Dustin asked, pausing before he chucked his helmet into the vehicle. "With the surfer guy? Moral of the story was to keep our mouths shut?"

They didn't even scare that guy off either; he and Shane just hadn't known he was interested in Tori. That led to them getting majorly chewed out by their friend and _that_ was a day Dustin did _not_ want to ever repeat again.

Wait…lover-boy?

Dustin frowned. "Dude, are you guys dating?"

She would've said something.

It was Tori's turn to frown.

"No, we're not dating, and no," she continued, turning to Shane who had a rather impressive smirk on his face. "You may not beat him up. He actually saved me from one of Lothor's goons."

That got their attention; Dustin paused in his loading and Shane pushed off the van to lean closer.

"I'll tell you later. Look," she changed the subject. "Cam fixed our morphers."

She opened her bag to reveal them in there not-destroyed glory. Cam must have been working double time because those things had been thrashed. He was like, super tech.

_We should totally get him a cape_ _to like, thank him for being awesome._

Like she could read his mind (and it wouldn't surprise him if she could) Tori carried on, "And remember to tell him thank you next time you see him; I think he's feeling a little under appreciated."

Well… that was freaky.

Strapping his morpher back on made Dustin feel whole again, like a part of him had been missing, and thoughts of capes and missing pieces came to a halt as their morphers chimed. It was Cam saying something about…a frog by a river? Was that a monster, or was Cam suddenly interested in amphibians?

Following the other two usually worked when Dustin was confused, so why change a good thing? With a grin, he followed Tori and Shane to the mystery of the frog. Hopefully this fight wouldn't go as bad as the last one. Especially when it got to the zords.

_I've got my eye on you thunder beam._

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The tension inside the mobile command center was thick, with Cam monitoring their progress in the front and Shane quietly talking to Tori in the back, Dustin had taken to hovering behind Cam.

It had been Blake and Hunter the whole time. The brunette wondered how hard they must've laughed at his attempts to be friends with them. How far beneath them they must have thought he was. He felt so…used. Like there was this empty feeling inside that throbbed. It went away if he avoided thinking about it, but only for a little bit.

Tori probably felt worse than he did. It wasn't like one of them tried to woo him.

For what felt like the hundredth time that day Dustin sighed and continued pacing behind Cam. He wasn't good at the whole talking-thing but he could at least like, physically be there for the tech. Even if Cam didn't acknowledge him.

Dustin glanced back at Shane and Tori again. He wouldn't lie, when he started being friends with those two he was afraid they would do exactly what Blake and Hunter did and think of him as more of a joke than a friend, especially Shane. Girls didn't "scare" Dustin as much. For some reason he just wasn't good at the whole friendship thing, like, people Dustin had thought were his friends were really just using him for something, so when he found his fellow ninjas it felt too good to be true. Only time made him more sure of himself. But now the whole process had started over again.

They had taken Sensei. They, in their evil-ranger-ness had stolen Sensei for unknown purposes, but they were probably going to try and kill him because they were evil like that and that was just how they rolled.

_Jerks_.

Turning, Dustin decided to take his thoughts elsewhere.

"Are we almost there Cam? I'm freaking out over here," he blurted, leaning over Cam's shoulder to get a better view of the screen. He didn't really understand it, but it was a nice distraction.

"You're freaking out? It's _my_ father they took." Cam hissed, frowning at the yellow ranger.

"I'm sorry, it's just…" Dustin trailed off, rocking back on his heels as he subconsciously adjusted his gauntlets. "Shouldn't I have noticed? I know I'm not that observant but-"

"Hey." The yellow ranger was cut off by Shane's shout from the back. "Enough of that. This isn't anyone's fault but Blake and Hunter's."

Briefly, Dustin held the leader's gaze as a wave of relief washed over him. He could tell himself that as much as he wanted but it never really made a difference until he heard it from someone else.

Out of the corner of him eye Dustin saw Cam relax, not much, but it still counted.

See, red guy power in action.

It had probably been an awful day for Cam. Work, work, work on the morphers, then get sneak attacked by the Thunder goons, and _then_ have them kidnap his father.

Totally bad day. Dustin wished there was something more he could do.

The yellow ranger turned to face him as the others got in position on their bikes. "We'll get him back Cam." he promised, crossing his heart.

The action earned him a tight frown from the tech. Frowns were bad, so Dustin went with his next logical choice to making someone feel better and tackle hugged him, which was a little awkward because he was standing and the other teen was sitting, but a hug was a hug.

Cam pushed the brunette off and turned back to the console, but couldn't hide a small smile that was on his face. Mission partially accomplished, Dustin grinned and got on his bike, completely missing a look of surprise from Shane.

_Alright, time to get the bad guys._

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><p>End Notes:<p>

Note: We've decided to keep a track of all the "land's", "time's", and "thing's", so if you see any posted by themselves, that's why. Also, there's a running counter for how many times I have typed the phrase "the other".

Now on with the nonsense!

**On using the term "the other"**

Muse: "Every time we read the phrase "the other" without completing it (the other _guy_, the other _person_) we are taking shots."

*Eyes me evilly* "Then you will _learn_"

Me: "You're going to be very, very drunk by the end of this story. Just a heads up."

**On destroying vs killing:**

Muse: "That's right, because they don't ever say killing in the series do they?"

"Blake should say something like 'They straight up shanked his bitch-ass'."

**On Cam's scene:**

Muse: "The deal is Shane's brainy right?"

Me: "You mean Cam?"

Muse: "Yes, right, Cam. The Dude-guy with the Asian glasses."

*falls into fits of giggles*

**More on using the term "the other":**

Muse: "God damnit Paisley, you can't have run out of words that fast."

*Pauses for effect* "If you ran out of words that fast the rest of the chapter would be _'her-de-derp-de-derp-derp-derp'_"

**Things Muse misreads:**

Muse: Dustin _"We should totally tape a cape to him."_

**Tracking:**

Save-Dustin's-head time

never-leaving-the-school-thing

"The other" count (Chapter): 3

"The other" count (Cumulative): 3

Until next time.


	2. Getta Loada Toad

Chapter 2

Getta Loada Toad

This chapter takes place between the Thunders leaving and the very beginning of episode 8, "Nowhere to Grow".

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><p><em>That<em>, Dustin thought, _that entire business was a mess._

The whole Thunder brothers kidnapping/revenge/continuous jerkface-ness business. The whole, let's fight each other, no let's fight _together_, no, let's go back to fighting each other confusing… _thing_ where everything kept changing so fast that it made his head spin. _That_ business.

And why had it happened?

The thunder rangers (somehow) had thought Sensei had killed their parents, which was whack because anyone who had spent more than five seconds with sensei would know that he would never do that. Seriously, five seconds, that was all it would take. Obviously, Hunter and Blake had spent much _more_ than five seconds with him (remember, the whole kidnapping thing) but their minds had already been made up so that hadn't counted. Obviously.

It was a shame though; they could've saved themselves a lot of trouble.

They had said that Lothor had been convincing. Dustin hoped that was the case. It wouldn't be cool if they just enjoyed beating people up.

And by people, he meant _him_.

But what was done was done, and the two other rangers had skipped town. They didn't really give a reason why (it wasn't their fault they were tricked, so it wasn't like that could be counted), but they would probably be back. They were Power Rangers after all; they always came back in the comics.

That didn't stop Tori from being bummed. Not that she would say anything about it. She must've seriously had a thing for Blake. It was probably because he was little. Girls loved little things, like puppies, and purses, and those tiny cupcakes…that had to be it. He had charmed her with his midget ways.

With everything that had been happening Dustin had almost forgotten that he was going to get something for Cam. The tech _had_ done an awesome job, he had earned it. The problem was what to get him. It was a tricky thing. Dustin knew he couldn't get Cam any kind of technical gadget (because he didn't know anything about that stuff and knowing himself he would probably get Cam something he already had, or something that was completely useless, or something he didn't _want_) and there weren't any costume shops in town, and Dustin couldn't sew, so he couldn't get Cam a cape like he originally planned.

It would've been so cool to see Cam in one of those.

Dustin had been walking home from Storm Chargers the day after they had cleared everything up with Blake and Hunter when inspiration had finally struck.

Or rather, was finally _heard_.

Ribbits that usually blended in with the white noise of the suburbs brought the brunette back to the frog monster they had fought after Cam had fixed their morphers.

It was genius, it really was.

Dustin would get Cam a frog. That way the dude would have company when they weren't there, and frogs were totally green which was Cam's favorite color. Well, that was more of a guess, but there had to be a reason he wore it all the time.

It was perfect. Dustin wasn't sure if pet stores sold frogs, but even if they did he still wanted to catch one. _Sooo_ much more fun.

Which led to today, Thursday, the almost-greatest day of the week (the greatest being Friday).

Side-by-side, he and Shane walked to the creek that was near Dustin's house. Frog catching was made infinitely better by the presence of his best friend. Probably. Dustin didn't really know from experience but being with Shane made most things better. Dustin would've invited Tori but she had mentioned something about catching up on homework, and he didn't want to bother her (even if it was her loss).

"Why a Frog?"

Until now their trek had been silent, grass and dirt moist from the rain earlier, squishing beneath their worn out sneakers as they neared their destination.

Dustin smiled as he revealed his reasoning. "Dude, it's so perfect. He gets a present _and_ a friend."

Not that Cam didn't have friends (they were totally Cam's friends), Dustin just wanted him to have company for when they weren't there.

"And a fish can't do that?"

Dustin's smile widened as his excitement began to return. "Fish are boring, and frogs are green man," he shared a knowing look with Shane. Obviously he wasn't the only one who noticed the one-shade wardrobe. "And like, every time it ribbits he'll totally think about how much we appreciate him. It's perfect."

Ribbits of love. It sounded like a cheesy kid's song.

"Whatever you say man," Shane replied, smiling easily. "Let's just hope it isn't too loud; don't want your plan to backfire and give Cam a headache."

Dustin hadn't thought of that. A surge of panic coursed through him and caused his hands to tighten around his frog-capturing jar. He whipped his head back around to face Shane, one question after the other jumbling in his mind and attempting to pour out his mouth at the same time.

"What? Do you think that could happen? He could just- well, if it got that bad he could-"

Shane sighed and brought his right hand up to comfortingly pat Dustin's back before wrapping the appendage around his shoulders. "I was just joking, Cam will like it."

"Of course," Dustin boasted, puffing his chest out. "It'll be from us, he _has_ to like it."

They were forced words but hey, when worst came to worst, fake it. It usually worked.

They reached their destination, a creek, perfect for frog hunting, and Dustin pushed those unpleasant thoughts aside and got down to business.

"Alright, let's do this ninja style." He shared one last grin with his partner-in-crime before he turned and slowly crept down to the creek water. It was dark and murky, but near the middle he could just make out things moving around underneath the surface.

_Jackpot_.

The brunette twisted the lid (that he had so thoughtfully poked holes into) of the jar off and placed it on the ground silently, all the while keeping his movements as slow and smooth as he could. Shane eyed him with amusement and then looked back at the water, studying the shadows. Slowly, the red ranger leaned over the creek (so as to not startle the frogs) and moved his hands out, spread apart over the water. Dustin copied him.

Frog catching position assumed.

Both held still, waiting calmly for the moment one of the blobs swam close enough to be snatched up.

And…_there_. Dustin quickly plunged his hands into the water to catch his froggy prey. But just as he got his hands under it, it attempted to swim out of his reach. _Sooo_ not happening. This guy was perfect; he was big, and definitely a frog, and… perfect. He had some nerve attempting to challenge the yellow ranger; didn't he know yellow ranger didn't lose?

Except for sometimes, but that wasn't now.

Dustin followed along with the frog, pushing himself forward and successfully trapping it between his hands. For a moment, all was right with the world.

And then in the following moment, everything was wet with the world. Sputtering, Dustin pulled himself out of the water, spitting out whatever creek germs had gotten into his mouth. Shane gave up ninja stealth for laughing, clutching his left hand to his side.

He somewhat redeemed himself by offering Dustin the jar in his right hand.

Dustin glanced down to see that he had managed to keep a hold of his frog in the spill and gladly shoved the thing into the jar, willing it far away and Shane twisted the lid back on it to seal off its escape.

The brunette wondered what Cam would name it. Probably a smart-ish sounding name like Phillip or Fergusson or…Leonard.

Leonard actually wasn't that bad.

Shane's laughter died down as he set the jar on the ground. He turned and offered his hand to Dustin.

"Ninja style, huh?" He smirked, face incredibly smug.

He stopped smirking when Dustin grabbed his hand and yanked the other teen into the creek with him, making sure they were both thoroughly drenched.

-:-:-:-:-:-

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Mission accomplished, they made a quick stop at Dustin's house to change out of their soaking clothes before they got ready to deliver Cam's present. During the proceedings, Dustin didn't even try to hide his smirk. Shane grumbled at the lack of red in his borrowed wardrobe, but he would get no pity from _this_ guy.

He shouldn't have laughed.

Originally Dustin had planned to give Cam his present at training the next day, but Shane's comment (even if it was just a joke) had made him rethink that idea. He decided to ease Cam into owning the frog-gift. And by ease into, Dustin meant leave it in Ninja Ops when Cam was out so that the tech could find it later, when _they_ weren't there. That way, if Cam didn't like it he could get rid of it before training and they could all act like it never happened. Or the frog would be so awesome that Cam would grow to love it before training.

Either way, win-win.

It had taken some convincing, a little yelling (on Tori's part, not theirs), and a promise not to leave the aqua ranger out of any future plans (she should at least be given the option to turn them down,_ 'thank you very much'_) before the third musketeer was on board for plan "_Sneak-Cam-the-frog_". Dustin hadn't thought Tori would be that upset for missing out on the dirty part, and she probably wasn't but…well, he should probably be nice to her just in case.

He didn't want to mess anything up.

It wasn't until they were halfway to Ninja Ops before Tori noted a rather big flaw in Dustin's plan.

"So, how are you going to distract Cam?"

"What?" Dustin asked, snapping out of his daydream (he'd been at the track, with Shane of course). He looked up from his seat in the back to see Tori looking at him through the rear view mirror.

"You said you're going to sneak it in, right? That means Cam can't be in the room, so how are you going to getting him out?"

Shane watched them silently from the passenger seat with a small smile. He must have known what was coming next.

"Well…" the yellow ranger started, slowly scratching his head. "I hadn't actually thought of that yet."

"Seriously?" Tori sounded less than pleased.

"Hey come on, I came up with the whole frog idea, can't one of you guys think of a Cam-distraction?" Dustin wasn't even that good at planning, he was honestly surprised he had gotten this far.

"What would make Cam leave the main room?" Shane interrupted, leader-face fully engaged (this time for actual leadering).

Cue brainstorming time.

"Bathroom?" Dustin suggested, momentarily forgetting his earlier complaint. The other two stared at him.

"Are you suggesting we just wait around until Cam needs to use the bathroom? That could take hours." Tori said, clearly displeased with idea. And _she_ was supposed to be the patient one.

"We could give him water." That ought to cheer her up; water was her thing.

"I think Cam would notice if we tried _to force feed_ him water."

"Wouldn't it be like, force-drink?"

"Not the point."

"What about the Tsunami cycles?" Shane broke in, squeezing Tori's shoulder briefly. For…comfort? This conversation wasn't that stressful.

"They don't need water dude."

Shane looked at Dustin with an unreadable expression before he continued. "I meant that we," he pointed at himself and Tori, taking his hand off of her shoulder. "Could tell Cam we were having issues with the Tsunami cycles."

"Oh, I see," Tori chirped, smile reappearing. "Then he takes us to the bikes to see what's wrong and Dustin sneaks the tank in."

"Dude, that's awesome!" Dustin exclaimed, bouncing in his seat.

Being a part of a team was the best; he never would have thought of something like that on his own.

He tried to look at that positively.

But…

"There's nothing wrong with the bikes."

Shane waved it off like it was a minor detail. "Well you know that, and _I_ know that-"

"I bet Cam knows that too." Tori goaded, a knowing look on her face.

"Look, we just have to get him out of the room. We'll play dumb when everything works, and we'll be fine." Shane looked back and forth between the two of them. "Are we good?"

Dustin nodded with Tori.

They were good.

-:-:-:-:-:-

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Dustin waited quietly, fingers crossed for Shane and Tori. Hopefully Cam would buy Shane's idea. The yellow ranger felt a little bad for lying (well, encouraging lying) to Cam. He knew that they didn't talk that often - well, he did _try,_ but Cam never seemed to want him (or Shane) around - but the tech was still part of the team. A super important, Lothor-would-have-probably-taken-over-the-world-if -not-for-him, part of the team and he didn't deserve to be lied to.

Dustin had a sudden thought. What if Cam thought they were making fun of him? Like they had run out of things to do and decided to pull a fast one on him to pass the time? Dustin knew from experience that never left you with a good feeling.

No, Cam was smart enough to know they would never do that. Or like, Tori would never do that. (The guy had a soft spot for Tori, even if he wouldn't admit it.) And then he'd see Dustin's frog-with-frog-tank gift and everything would be happy.

The silence was broken as the door to Ninja Ops slid open, Cam's voice carrying into the forest.

"What are you suggesting, that I'm incapable of repairing your bikes?"

Cam sounded annoyed, climbing the stairs at a rapid pace. At least they managed to get him outside.

"That's not it at all Cam, we just want to see if the bugs…" Dustin could practically hear Cam glare at Tori, "…if the _issues_ we were having were really gone, that way if they were still there you could see for yourself."

"We're just trying to be responsible," Shane added, patting Cam's shoulder as they headed towards the mobile command center.

When they were far enough away Dustin streaked into Ninja Ops, coming to a halt in the main room.

Now, where to put it… he probably should have thought of that beforehand…_Cam's lab!_

It was a quick trip, and Dustin found a table near the center of the lab and left the tank there, stepping back to admire his handiwork, but only for a little bit. Cam wouldn't be distracted for long.

Dustin really hoped he liked it. The brunette knew it wasn't…well, a normal thing to get someone, but he hoped the thought and effort that went into it would make up for that.

_Pff_, what was he worried about? Cam was a smart guy, he'd figure it out.

Mind made up, Dustin streaked out of Ninja Ops, racing back towards Tori's van.

Cam would like it. Dustin could just _feel_ it.

-:-:-:-:-:-

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Cam stared.

Then (just to be sure) he took off his glasses and carefully cleaned the lenses with the edge of his shirt, taking expert care to get rid of any smudges (as if a smudge could do this).

Process complete, he replaced his glasses.

The tank was still there.

He had thought- no, he had _known_ something was amiss when Shane and Tori had made that pointless visit, dragging him away from his work. And what did they want him to check up on? Nothing. A whole load of nothing. That was what it turned out to be, because absolutely nothing had been wrong with the Tsunami cycles.

This reminded Cam of something…what was it? Oh, that was right, it reminded him of earlier, when he had checked on the Tsunami cycles after the fight and found out that there was absolutely _nothing_ wrong with them. Exactly how bored had they been that they felt the need to bother him? And if they were going to waste his time they could at least think of a decent excuse. They owed him that much.

It wasn't until after they had left, disgustingly pleased with themselves (for no good reason) that Cam realized that there was something bigger going on.

He should have figured it out when Shane showed up without Dustin, because _that_ never happened. In fact, if they were having legitimate issues with the bikes at all (not that they were, but hypothetically) it would make infinitely more sense for them to go to Dustin first.

But back to the matter at hand.

There was a tank. A tank with a bulky red bow that had at the very least 12 pieces of tape haphazardly holding it in place. Cam didn't even have to read the note that had been strategically stuffed into the bow to realize whose handiwork this was. It had Dustin written all over it.

So Shane and Tori had been decoys.

Seeing as it wasn't going to go away anytime soon (he could only hope), Cam decided to take a closer look at this…_thing_ that was taking up prime space on his favorite table. It was an old fish tank with what appeared to be a make-shift lid of cardboard taped on top. It didn't quite cover the entire tank, but left two small slits on its sides for…air?

Cam bent over and studied the contents of the tank. It had been divided down the middle, one side packed with dirt and the other with pond water and there, perched on the edge of the water, was a frog.

A frog.

Through this, Cam managed to discern one thing.

Dustin had a convoluted thought process.

As he straightened back up he grabbed the note out of the bow and steeled himself for whatever its contents might express. Carefully, he unfolded the wrinkled sheet of notebook paper. The bold chicken scratch read as such:

**TO: CAM**

**FROM: NOT LOTHOR**

**(SHANE, DUSTIN, AND TORI)**

**THANKS FOR THE HARD WORK. WE APRECEATE IT.**

**PS. YOU SHOULD NAME HIM LEONARD**

Truly, a stimulating read.

Cam tried not to cringe at the blatant spelling errors, but couldn't help but note how good it was that Dustin lived in the age of spell check. The brunette probably wouldn't go far otherwise.

A quick patter of feather light footsteps carrying into the room was the only warning Cam had before his father landed on the lab table next to his…gift. His father made a cursory trip across the front of the tank to consider its insides before he chose to speak.

"_Ah_, so that is what Dustin snuck in here."

"You saw this happen?" And he didn't _stop_ him? Or at least ask the earth ninja what it _meant_?

"Yes, but I didn't want to interrupt. It seems he put a lot of work into this."

"It's a frog." Cam grunted, glaring at the subject of their conversation with distaste.

It stared back at him blankly.

"It is a gift." His father reminded Cam, small arms folding behind his back.

A moment of quiet drifted over them as they contemplated the frog. Or at least, as Cam contemplated the frog. There had to be some significance.

His father broke the silence.

"What is its name?"

Cam glanced back down at his note, squinting at the bottom line.

"Leonard, apparently." Cam frowned. "It's a stupid name."

He forced his eyes away when his father looked up at him, knowing full well he disapproved of his comment, but Cam wouldn't take it back. It _was_ a stupid name. It was a stupid gift. Why a frog? He had given no indication, no hint no…_nothing_ that he even had a predilection towards that specific kind of amphibian, let alone a desire to own one.

But somehow, he wasn't sure how (this was Dustin after all), somehow it fit.

And somehow it made Cam feel a little more a part of a team.

Not that he would ever tell them.

He carefully folded the note back up and placed it on the table before he turned and went over to his computer, settling himself in for some light research.

If he was going to keep this thing, he should probably learn what it ate.

* * *

><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

* * *

><p>Endnotes:<p>

**On Improving:**

Muse: "Have you already gone back and edited this once with what you know now?"

Me: "In regards to the story, or in regards to the grammar?"

Muse: "Yes."

Me: "…I gave you two options."

*pause* "Which one?"

Muse: "The grammar."

Me: "Oh, then yeah."

Muse: "Yeah, it's much better. I remember this being worse."

Me: "Heh, I thought you were going to say something along the lines of '_then why is this still awful?'_"

Muse: "Nope, much better."

**Muse Misread:**

Dustin: _"Fish are boarding, and frogs are like green man."_

*frowns* "…I don't know where the 'like' came from."

**Tracking:**

"The other" count (chapter): 0

"The other" count (cumulative): 3

Until next time.


	3. A Little Fall of Rain

Chapter 3

A Little Fall of Rain

I don't own Les Miserables the book, nor the musical

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* * *

><p>So the thing about fighting evil-space-plant-monsters was that they, in their evilness, also came with evil space <em>pollen<em> that had decided that Dustin was _not_ its friend. In fact, they were so _un_-friendly that it had decided to make the yellow ranger incredibly sick, leaving him bedridden the entire weekend. That was right, stupid space pollen had made him sick on the _weekend_. And on top of _that_ Dustin had a test on Monday. It was in English class, over a book they were studying called Les Mis. He had planned to use that weekend to cram and ride at the track, so it was safe to say he was not at all pleased with this turn of events.

Even after Dustin had reacquired his ability to move (of course by Monday, so he _had_ to go to school) his friends had pretty much forbidden him from doing any of his usual fun, normal, after school activities. No bike, no track, no mud.

He was still a "_recovering boy after all"_.

Eventually, Shane admitted that after being cooped up in his room all weekend Dustin could use some fresh air and brought him to the skate park to film some more footage for the red ranger's demo tape.

So here he was, sitting (at Shane's insistence) on a bench filming away. It wasn't the track, but it was still a humongous improvement to his room. And there was plenty of air.

Beautiful, wonderful, glorious air.

_Oh air, how you have been missed._

_Oh so very missed. _

And Dustin had earned it. The test, that monster of a thing, was finally over and he wanted nothing more then to forget about it. He had probably gotten a C. He really had _tried_, but all that stuff always got jumbled up in his head and he would mix up his answers. Even after the major study session he had with Shane and Tori Dustin still managed to be confused by half the questions.

In a way, it felt like he was letting down his team. Like, if he had tried _just_ a bit harder then maybe…

Maybe it wasn't entirely his fault. Dustin had been a little distracted with…stuff.

Tori, being the wonderful person that she was, had brought the mechanic something to help him learn the story better. It turned out this gigantic book had been made into a musical. It just so happened that her older sister's college had performed it awhile back, and because her sister was one of actors Tori's family had a tape of the show. The aqua ranger figured that if Dustin actually _saw_ what happened he would understand everything better. Plus, music and singing tended to improve most things. If anything could help Dustin understand the novel, it would probably be a musical, and Tori had even said it was one of the greatest musicals of all time.

This was something Dustin was a little skeptical about because the book was boring with a capital B. It had taken him _forever_ to read all the way through it and by the time he had gotten to the end he had forgotten most of it.

Thankfully, that was why we had the internet.

So here was the basic low-down. This guy, Jean Valjean, stole a loaf of bread so that he could feed his family. _A legitimate worry._ Then he got locked away in prison (kinda) because people in France back in whenever-the-book-was-set were really protective over their bread. In Dustin's opinion, the punishment was way harsh.

Okay, so then the guy was locked away and tried to escape but he was like, the worst escapist in the world so he ended up getting caught and they made him stay locked away for 20 years because they're so mad or something along those lines. So (because he was _terrible_ at escaping) Valjean did his time and was set free to do as he pleased, which meant going to steal more stuff because that was all he could do, but then someone was awesome to him and he decided to be awesome for the rest of his life as well.

There was also this chick named Fantine who had a baby with a rich guy but the rich guy was all like _"No, I'm not gonna marry you because I'm a jerk"_ and he left her with nothing. She then left her kid with another family (which turned out to be a really _bad_ idea because they were _evil_) who she sent money to because no one wanted to hire a lady who had a kid with no husband.

The only real message Dustin was getting from this book was that people were mean. He was sure there was supposed to be other morals, but he honestly couldn't find them.

Anyway, eventually the people she worked with (it turned out that it was a factory that Jean (but not called Jean cuz he started over) ran) found out she had a kid and she got fired. Some stuff happened; and she somehow wound up in a hospital with Jean and she told him about her kid (whose name is Cosette) and died.

Or was destroyed.

By dying.

Somewhere in all this Jean (but not-Jean) had to go on the run again. Even though he had already served his time.

He got sad and decided to get the kid and raise her (because that was how awesome he was) and then the book skipped to like, 10 years in the future or something.

Also, there was this guy named Javert who dedicated his life to hunting Jean down because he must have nothing better to do.

Dustin thought he should try making bread, since they seemed to have such a shortage of _that._

Then there was this other dude that fell in love with Cosette named Marius. Then _she_ fell in love with _him_ and they got all lovey-dovey and gooey. For the life of him Dustin couldn't find any reason _why_ they fell in love except that they both thought that the other was hot. Which, he could admit, was a little important when it came to a relationship, but shouldn't they like…see if they liked each others' personality or something? Was that all there was to it? You ran around all your life until you found the one person that _looked_ hot enough to be the one and then you were done?

Dustin had always thought there was more to it than that.

Okay, so they fell in love for _no good reason_ and then there was this war. Jean sent Cossette away for her protection and stayed to fight with Darius.

So maybe this wasn't the briefest of summaries.

But none of that was what was bothering Dustin. What bothered him was this one scene (this being the musical, which was a much _shorter (and _therefore better) version of the book) where they were at this barricade and this _other_ girl (Eponine) who was in love with Darius took a bullet for him and said she loved him, and then he told her he wished she wasn't dying and they sang a sad song about rain and the audience cried and then she died.

Or was destroyed.

Or died.

What was up with that?

In the musical Darius and Cosette spent like, 10 minutes singing about how much they loved each other, and then this other girl (who looked like she _really_ loved him, and not just for his looks) got shot and _then _he decided to care about her?

It got Dustin thinking.

Was Darius humoring her because she was dying?

Like, to make her last few moments happy ones but…it took her taking a bullet for him to care? To say he would love her? That was how much he couldn't be bothered? And…maybe it wasn't just the play, musical, whatever. Maybe people did this _all_ _the time._ Like, people lied to other people to make them feel better, which sounded reasonable but-

He always came back to how it affected him.

They…he, Shane and Tori didn't pick their ninja team, Sensei had done that. So what if Shane and Tori were making the best out of a bad situation, like Darius had? What if they just made due with what they got?

And it wasn't just them. All the other students had been kidnapped so they _had_ to be Power Rangers, but if Sensei had his pick would he have chosen them?

Probably not.

Until the attack Dustin had been pretty sure that Sensei didn't even _like_ them. He had simply made a bad situation…better. But that seemed pretty reasonable; of course you were supposed to make the best of any situation. It was just different when lying was involved. Dustin had been lied to all his life, and most of the time…most of the time he thought he deserved it. Because he wasn't smart enough to figure it out, or good enough or…just _enough_, so he had it coming.

The only thing he really wanted was the truth.

He thought he _knew_ this. That Shane and Tori had already proven that they were his friends through thick and thin but-

It all felt so wrong. That stupid book shouldn't make him feel this way. It was too boring to be able to have that kind of power.

Shane had spent the entire weekend with Dustin, but had he done that because he cared about his _friend_ or did he do that because he cared about getting a ranger back into fighting shape?

Was it a lie?

Dustin wanted- no, he _needed_ an answer. He didn't care what it was, but he needed it and there was only one person he knew that was ruthlessly honest and had no problems with being mean.

Cam.

Shane landed some spinning move and skated off the ramp towards Dustin, wanting to see how good he looked. On a normal day, the brunette would happily tell him while they went over the footage.

But not today.

"Dude, am I awesome or what?" Shane said, smile wide, as he picked up his skateboard, plopping himself down on the bench next to Dustin. They slapped hands before Shane leaned over to look at the camera's view screen.

"Yeah dude, you looked great," Dustin answered, trying to sound as energetic as he normally did. He didn't quite make it. Shane quirked an eyebrow and pulled off his helmet, looking like he was about to call him out. Dustin decided to interrupt him before he did.

"Hey man, I think I left my coat at Ninja Ops on Friday so I'm gonna have to cut this short."

The look on Shane's face told him that Shane wasn't buying it.

"I don't remember you wearing a coat,"

"Uh…I wasn't when I left, so I have to go get it."

_Smooth Dustin_.

"Okay, I'll go with you," Shane said, beginning to pick up his gear.

"No!" Dustin answered, a little too quickly, grabbing Shane's arm. The skater's stare reminded him that he was _supposed_ to be playing it cool.

So far, not so cool.

Dustin took a breath and let go of Shane's arm.

"No," he started, this time softer. "I don't want to cut into your practice time."

Then, to let Shane know that he really was going to Ninja Ops and not to Storm Chargers or somewhere else to do _whatever_ Dustin added, "I'll take the camera back to Cam while I'm there and let you know how the footage turns out."

Shane nodded slowly, satisfied with his story. "Okay, see you later bro."

"Yeah dude," Dustin said as the packed up the camera. "Later."

His stomach churned as he walked away, sick with himself.

-:-:-:-:-:-

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-:-:-:-:-:-

Surprisingly enough, it had been a pleasant evening for Cam. For once he was caught up on his work and there hadn't been any attacks. There was no training because Dustin was still recovering so the tech had Ninja Ops mostly to himself. He used this quiet time to tamper with a few of his side projects, including his research on Dustin's cold, which was currently futile. Nothing had come of it. He had "benched" it for the moment. All it seemed to do was make Cam want to hurl his chair through the nearest window.

Difficult to do in an underground base.

He was in the middle of entertaining the thought of taking a break for some light reading when his computer gave off a chime signaling that one of the rangers was calling him. As he walked over to his console he pondered who it was, and more importantly, why.

If it was Shane, it was either to make sure they were all clear for the night (which was something the red ranger usually forgot to do, so it was improbable that was the case) or it had something to do with Dustin or Tori. Based on what had occurred the past couple of days, his most plausible source for concern was Dustin. If it was Tori (and Cam sincerely hoped it was Tori), it would either be to make sure they were all clear for the night (and unlike Shane, she actually did this _every_ night) or commence in making small talk. On most occasions, it was both.

Cam appreciated those occasions.

Now, if it was Dustin…it could be genuinely anything. As of yet Cam had been unable to determine a pattern to Dustin's calls. Sometimes the mechanic called to simply wish him "good morning" despite the actual time of day. Dustin didn't seem to care. Most of these calls Cam got in the evening. Other times Dustin would turn to him for answers to seemingly useless questions instead of going through the trouble of looking in a dictionary, or using the internet. Cam couldn't help but feel that he might have misrepresented himself to the yellow ranger. While he may be fond of and possessed extraordinary skills with computers, he, in fact, was not one.

During these instances Cam would answer as many questions as he had patience (or time) for before he gave up and pretended that their line was breaking up. As much as the yellow ranger was growing on him, he had things to do.

This of course did not sit well with Dustin.

After five of such occurrences the curly-haired teen started to question his fellow rangers to see if their morphers were encountering the same technical difficulties that his had. Cam wasn't sure how that conversation ended, but he did know that it resulted in two _very_ unhappy red and blue rangers who felt more than obligated to share this displeasure with _him_.

And that was before his father had caught wind of it.

Now as team support he had to end his conversations with Dustin _politely_ and was disallowed to do this until a _reasonable_ period of time had passed. It was here that Cam learned that _his_ definition of reasonable and everyone else's definition vastly differed.

During one of these calls Dustin had told him with great enthusiasm that he was glad that Cam had managed to get that bug fixed.

"_It could've become a real problem dude." _

Cam had fought the urge to smash his monitor.

He sincerely hoped it was Tori.

"Cam here," he stated tersely, settling himself into his chair. Depending on who this was, he would have to get comfy.

"Cam, its Shane."

So this would be a brief call. His evening was still looking bright.

"We're all clear Shane, there's nothing new," he reported and patiently waited for the part where they stopped talking. His project was calling.

"Thanks, but that's not what I'm calling about."

So this wouldn't be a brief call.

"So what's wrong with Dustin?" Cam asked, looking longingly at his ray emitter (a few more adjustments and it would be ready for testing).

"Dude, how did you…never mind. Anyway, Dustin's on his way there, says he left his jacket."

So there went his evening.

"He didn't." If he had Cam would have returned it on Saturday.

"I know that, but he was very insistent."

"So what does he really want?"

"I'm not sure, but something was bothering him. Can you talk to him?"

_Aren't you his best friend?_

"I _can_, and I will," the tech responded, pulling up the security cameras for the Ops.

"Whatever man, just try to be nice."

"Why ever would I not be?" he answered sarcastically before closing the line.

Just in time. A yellow blur streaked past his outdoor cameras and set off the motion detectors. Cam keyed those off and made his way out of the lab and into the main room just as Dustin finished descending the stairs, borrowed camera bag in hand. They stared at each other awkwardly before Dustin finally worked up the nerve to speak to him.

"Hey uh…can I… talk to you?" he asked, shuffling his feet, a nervous tick.

"Sure," Cam replied and motioned for him to follow down the hall.

If they were doing this, they were doing it in the sanctity of his lab.

Dustin followed him eagerly.

Instead of offering him a drink, or a seat, or whatever matter of comfort one would most probably offer when discussing things of a touchy-feeling matter (because that was what this mostly likely was) Cam grabbed a broom out of the utility closet and offered it to Dustin, trading the cleaning tool for his camera. This earned him a look of confusion.

"If you're going to be here, you're going to do something useful."

So he wasn't the best at being nice, but he couldn't stop himself from being practical. Dustin focused better when his hands were occupied. Also, they wouldn't have to maintain steady eye contact. Cam could admit he wasn't prepared for that kind of commitment.

Dustin nodded, showing he understood, and began sweeping, leaving Cam to resume working on his project. The tech found he wanted to be distracted too.

After a few minutes of not-completely-terrible working in silence Dustin decided to address his reason for coming. He did so in a rather round-about way.

"Can you fight Cam?"

Instead of dignifying that with a response, Cam waited for him to expand on this comment.

This turned out to be the right thing to do.

"Like, I know you grew up here but Sensei never let you-"

"Yes, I can fight Dustin."

There was expanding, and then there was rambling. If something was bothering the curly-haired teen, the rambling was just a guise.

"Oh," Dustin murmured, surprised by his interruption. "That's what I thought."

With that he went back to sweeping, so Cam went back to tinkering with his circuitry. They went back to their "comfortable" silence for a few minutes.

Cam was about to tell him to get to the point when Dustin continued.

"I was thinking maybe…" Dustin frowned at a particularly stubborn speck of lint that would not be swept up. "Maybe you should be a ranger."

Cam allowed himself a moment to take that in. After Flora Bendicus, dad had started training him, but Dustin didn't know about that. Or did he? Cam had underestimated Dustin before, maybe this was another one of those times. Did his training intimidate the yellow ranger?

"Like, maybe…maybe you should take my morpher," Dustin continued, refusing to make eye contact.

Now _that_ was another concept entirely.

"Dustin, you're the yellow ranger," Cam reminded, setting down his screwdriver. This would require his entire attention.

"I know dude, but why?" Dustin asked, finally looking at the tech.

_Is that a philosophical question?_

"What?"

"Why am I the yellow ranger?" The mechanic repeated, turning slightly away from him. "You're smarter, you're more reliable, and you're probably a better fighter. So why am _I_ the yellow ranger?"

_Hmm…_

Now what has happened recently that would make Dustin suddenly doubt his ranger capabilities?

"Is this about you getting sick?"

While it had been odd that Dustin had been the only one susceptible to getting a "cold", Cam hadn't thought that would be enough to make him want to stop being a ranger.

"…kinda."

Then what was the rest of it?

It looked like they were going to go into yet another moment of silence, so Cam decided to prompt the other teen into speaking.

"Dustin, I'm still doing research about-"

"Look," Dustin cut in, taking the bait. "That's not like…the _entire_ reason,"

Cam nudged him on, "Then what is?"

There was a slight pause in the conversation while Dustin retrieved a dustpan from the closet and began to sweep up his many dirt piles. Instead of answering, he asked Cam another question.

"If I were dying, would you tell me you loved me?"

Were this anyone else Cam would demand that they get back to the conversation that they had started, immediately without dallying and _stay there_. But because this was Dustin, this off the wall comment was most likely relevant to the conversation. The question he was asking wasn't really the question he was asking, it was really something else and whatever it _really_ meant would help them work through this. Whatever _this_ was.

Dustin's earnest stare indicated that Cam was supposed to respond to this, so he decided to be as vague as he could. "What?"

That was the best he could do until he got a better feel for how he was supposed to respond.

"Like," Dustin continued, sweeping up another pile. "If I was in love with you…"

Cam knew it wasn't relevant but he had to ask, "You're in love with me?"

"No dude, that's gross," Dustin balked, crinkling his nose. "But hypothetically, if I _was _in love with you and I was dying, would you tell me you loved me, even if you didn't?"

For once Cam didn't know the answer. He wasn't sure what Dustin was looking for. Did he want comfort? Did he want the truth? The tech had a fifty-fifty chance of getting it right. Cam opted for the comfort route, assuming Dustin was looking for affirmation in his position in their lives.

"…Yes, I suppose."

"Hah, I knew it!" Dustin exclaimed, dropping his broom as he waved his arms wildly.

So yes had been the wrong answer.

Then again, they both could have been wrong answers.

"Knew what, all you proved was that-?"

"Was that you're a _liar_!" Dustin declared, jabbing a finger at Cam's chest.

And for once in their very brief time of interacting with each other, the tech got to see a glimpse of what Dustin looked like underneath the smiles, a taste of the true Dustin.

The Dustin that had been lied to.

"What?" Cam prodded, honestly with disbelief.

Dustin turned and walked away, bringing his hands behind his head. "And if you'd lie about that…"

So that was what this was about.

"You said this was hypothetical," Cam reminded him, willing Dustin to turn back around.

The yellow ranger stared at his shoes instead.

"Do you think we're lying to you?" the bespectacled teen continued, cutting to the core of the matter.

There was a moment of stillness.

"…are you?" the yellow ranger asked, distraught.

He thought that they were humoring him, that they simply tolerated him being around.

He didn't know how genuinely _good_ a person he was.

"No. We wouldn't do that."

"Even if the fate of the world was on the line?" he asked, spinning back around to face Cam, arms tense at his sides.

"I'm not a liar Dustin."

He would stand his ground, because while he may be grumpy, he _wasn't_ a liar.

"You would be if I was dying." Dustin spat out bitterly, bending down to pick up the discarded broom.

"That's different!"

"How much?" he asked, hands tightening around the handle. "I know what you're thinking, _'Oh hey, let's keep the dumb guy happy so he'll keep saving the world', _that's what you think when I call you, don't you?"

Cam stepped back as though he had been slapped, then cursed himself for his arrogance. He had been a fool to think Dustin hadn't noticed that.

But he couldn't fix the past; he could only fix what was happening now.

That was his job after all.

"You're not dumb Dustin," he reminded, eyes firmly locked to Dustin's.

They lit up with anger.

"Hey!" the brunette yelled, giving Cam a look of betrayal. "Don't…don't do that. I know I'm-"

"You lack focus," Cam interrupted. "You don't always concentrate, but you're not dumb."

With that statement, Dustin's shoulders slumped. Visibly, some of the fight came out of him.

"There's a difference?" he asked, voice quiet.

"A vast one," Cam muttered, watching as Dustin went back to viewing his shoes.

Shaky hands raked through Dustin's hair. "So…I'm not…"

"No, you're not." Cam reiterated. "Take it from a 'smart' person."

Cam waited for Dustin to look at him before he murmured. "You just think differently."

"Oh," the other teen whispered, face disbelieving.

_Is it so hard to believe you're likeable?_

Cam wanted…he didn't know why, but he wanted to find whoever had done this to Dustin and beat them to a pulp. Just...tear them to shreds. There was something about Dustin that just made you want to protect him.

Now he knew why Shane and Tori did it all the time.

Speaking of which…

"You should know that Shane and Tori care about you a lot Dustin. They're not just tolerating you." And then he added, "I'm sorry if I made you feel that way."

"…oh," the yellow ranger echoed again, setting the broom against the wall. He leaned against it a moment, gathering his strength.

In all this Cam had forgotten that just yesterday Dustin had been sick. He was probably exhausted right now.

"I'm sorry I bothered you," Dustin choked out before he shoved his hands in his pockets and began to make his way to the door, kicking his feet as he went.

Cam knew he might regret this but…

"Wait," Cam said, watching as Dustin looked back at him confused. "…you can stay if you want."

The sad eyes he got in return made him feel like a real tool.

"I don't want to bother you," Dustin replied dejectedly, moving back towards the door.

"You wouldn't be a bother," he coaxed, hoping the other teen would turn around.

He did, and Dustin's face lit up in a huge smile. That was all the warning Cam got before he had his arms full of Dustin, back to his normal self.

Good, because brooding Dustin was not the greatest of company.

He would know from brooding-Cam.

"But," the tech wheezed, as Dustin seemed intent on making sure he couldn't breathe. "You have to finish sweeping."

"No problem dude," Dustin blurted before quickly, releasing Cam and snatching up the broom, eagerly returning to his work.

Okay, so it wasn't how most people "hung out", but they weren't most people, and it worked for them. Besides, Cam would be much more open to Dustin's rambles if things were still getting done.

And this way he could make sure Dustin got home safely.

He would tell Shane what happened later.

* * *

><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

* * *

><p>Endnote:<p>

**On Distractions:**

Muse: " '_…her older sister's college had performed it.'_ There has got to be a better way to say that."

Me: "How about "put it on"?"

Muse: "Let me think." *buzzes lips*

Me: "…"

Muse: *three minutes later*

Me: "…what the hell?"

Muse: "I promise I was focused on the sentence the entire time."

*goes back to buzzing lips*

Me: "…damnit."

**On stylistic leanings:**

Muse: "Besides, you started the sentence with 'It', you can't end it with 'it'."

Me: "It's a sandwich!"

Muse: **"****_No_****!"**

**On sentence structure:**

Muse: " _'Plus, music and singing tended to make most everything better, so if anything was going to help, it would probably be this.'_"

"…What?" *shakes head* "This _sentence_."

Me: "I'm getting the feeling you don't like this sentence."

Muse: *sad and a little pained* "_I don't _**_like_**_ this sentence!"_

**On trying to fix "that sentence":**

Muse: _" 'Plus music and singing tended to make most everything better, so if anything was going to help-'"_

Me: "It would probably be this."

Muse: "No."

Me: "What?"

Muse: "**_No_**." *exasperated sigh* "You didn't _change_ anything!"

Me: *breaks into tearful laughter*

Yep, wasn't paying attention.

**On summaries:**

Muse: "First: It's either brief summary, or low-down, not both. Brief is inherent in the definition of 'low-down'. Second: It's not low-down, it's _down-low_."

*glares and wags a finger* "No slang for you!"

*sighs* "This _chapter_."

Me: "No, low-down is totally applicable, google it!"

Muse: *type-ity type* "Hah!" *frowns* "Wait, what?" *more frowns* "Low-down is the summary, keeping something on the 'down-low' is not talking about it."

Me: "I think the moral of the story is, I'm right."

Muse: "_No!"_

**On "How many lies would there be?":**

Me: "Cut it?"

Muse: "Yeah, cut it. It's a little derpy even for derp-meister Mc-Derperson."

**Tracking:**

"The other" counter (chapter): 1

"The other" counter (cumulative): 4

Until next time


	4. Friendship

Chapter 4

Friendship

I don't own Anything Goes.

Takes place after "Snip it, Snip it Good". (The one where Shane and Dustin beat each other up, and Tori goes on some spirit quest)

* * *

><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

* * *

><p>Dustin was in love with Leonard. Cam had no doubt of that. The moment they had ended their mission debriefing the mechanic had attached himself to the front of the frog's tank, poking at it incessantly in an attempt to evoke a reaction from the amphibian. Assuming it was a him. Cam hadn't bothered trying to look up what kind of species it was therefore was unable to determine its gender. It wasn't like it mattered; male frogs and female frogs ate the same thing.<p>

The tech almost regretted leaving Leonard out in the main room of Ninja Ops.

He was beginning to think that this may have been a better gift for Dustin than for _him_, seeing as the yellow ranger took it upon himself to come over and feed Leonard almost every night. It was ironic that Cam's responsibility for animal caretaking had been questioned considering his father's current condition. Still, his floors got swept every night, so he wasn't complaining. He might start inviting Dustin over on the weekends; see if he could make the brunette dust. Cam hated dusting. He felt his skills could be put to much better (and intellectually demanding) use.

Presently, Cam was speaking with Tori about her trip, her deeper connections with her element (it was a good thing she had been the one chosen because the other two imbeciles would have never figured it out) and her clever way of outfoxing Marah and Kapri. Not that this was a terribly difficult task to complete but it made Tori feel accomplished, so he listened patiently. It was only with half an ear though. The other half he reserved for the remaining rangers congregated around Leonard's tank, discussing plans. It was Thursday, a school night. They should be studying and on a normal day Cam would feel obligated to bully them into going home. However, the repeated blows to Dustin's head altered that notion. It was possible that the yellow ranger had a mild concussion. Because of his, he needed to be monitored.

It might as well be by someone he liked.

Cam had done a brief check up on the earth ninja as soon as they had returned to Ninja Ops, but Dustin was insistent that he had merely obtained a mild headache and that Tylenol would take care of it. It was unfortunate that many of the symptoms of a concussion coincided with Dustin's natural state of being. With Shane as the one dutifully watching, he would be able to determine any deviations if they occurred.

"So, movie night?" Dustin said, still focusing on Leonard. His patience was rewarded with a hop (not of his provocation, just be clear) and Cam could clearly see the other teen mouth the word _"cool"_ before going back and repeating the entire process.

His fascination was unwarranted. Frogs hopped; it wasn't exactly a revelation.

"Sure dude, I've got this new one that's just _awful_," Shane replied, watching Dustin with an intensity that mirrored the yellow ranger's focus on Leonard. Cam wondered how guilty Shane felt about beating the tar out of Dustin. The very nature of their relationship cemented him as a protector, caretaker, defender.

How did it feel when all that was stripped away?

"But in a good way, right?" Dustin took a moment to look at Shane. Simultaneously, he made the decision to go ahead and feed Leonard. He never bothered asking.

Cam used to think he wasn't as big a push-over as Shane.

Dustin appeared to be fine, but then again Dustin _always_ appeared to be fine until he reached his breaking point, a habit that he had sadly conditioned himself into. It was another reason Cam never bothered to nag him about Leonard, the frog (as far as Dustin was concerned) appeared to be almost therapeutic in nature. Still, the tech sincerely hoped Dustin didn't fall into another state of disillusionment. It probably wouldn't happen, but he would give Shane a heads up just in case.

Cam would also have to address Monday night's conversation, as oddly enough, that had yet to happen.

"What other kind of bad is there?" Shane replied cheekily, leaning against the table.

The bad kind of bad. It was assumed from the connotation of the word.

"Sweet. Let's jet," Dustin said, finished with his frog-associated duties.

Shane paused for a moment. "You go ahead man, I need to wrap some things up," he countered, briefly flicking his gaze over to Cam, knowing full well the tech was listening.

Good, he wanted to do this now.

"Okay, I'll get snacks!" Dustin rocked back on his heels, pleased. He stopped suddenly and placed a hand on his head, dizzy from his misguided actions. Perhaps Cam _should_ make him stay the night for observation anyway, or send him to a hospital, regardless of his feelings on the matter.

It seemed Shane was on the same wavelength and moved to steady the yellow-clad teen but Dustin simply waved him off, asserting he was fine.

Shane would take care of him, Cam wasn't worried about that.

The leader nodded and made his way over to the tech, motioning for Tori to go ahead without him. The red ranger sent her a look that was regularly practiced between the two of them that openly said _"take care of him."_ She nodded to show her understanding and ushered Dustin out the door, keeping her arm firmly wrapped around his. There was no doubt in Cam's mind that some day, he would grow to perfect this look as well.

Without bothering to gesture or speak Cam turned and walked to his lab, Shane shadowing his movements. He didn't bother grabbing a broom for this particular conversation, it needed to be brief, and he doubted that would fly with Shane.

He opted to start.

"If it gets worse bring him back immediately, don't-"

"I know," Shane interrupted, looking slightly peeved. "Who do you think you're talking to?"

Cam wasn't one to lose his cool and faced the red ranger, expression unchanged. He had a lot more practice at playing hardball.

"Allow me the privilege of addressing my concerns," he murmured coldly, standing his ground.

Shane glared at him, crossed his arms over his chest and grunted, "Can we get to the point?"

"Fine."

Shane nodded and began his prosecution, "What was wrong?"

He was, of course, referring to Monday, but Cam couldn't help but pick at him.

"Now or-"

"Playing cute's not really your style," the other teen ground out, losing his patience.

Cam took a breath and tried to collect himself, for Dustin's sake. He hadn't set out to goad the red ranger but the air ninja made it _so_ tempting. There was just something about Shane that drove him, for lack of better word, "nuts".

But now was not a good time to give into that.

"He was insecure about his placement on the team," the tech admitted, waiting for the red ranger's reaction. It was exactly what he expected it to be.

The guilty look was back, though unwarranted. It was unrealistic for the red ranger to assume he could protect Dustin from everything, including his own doubts. Sometimes these things just happened.

"He also thought we might be lying to him." Before Shane could break in Cam continued, "But its okay, we talked it out."

"It was partially my fault, anyway," he finished, keeping his eyes locked on Shane's. He didn't miss the look of _hurt_ that flashed up at his words.

Shane endeavored to not let it show. "What made him feel-?"

"He didn't explain that part." Cam waved his hand absently. "He thought we might be tolerating him because he is a ranger. I let him know that wasn't the case."

Shane turned away from him slightly, his hardened façade crumbling before it dropped away completely. He turned and leaned both arms against one of the tables, head tilting towards the ground.

"Why you?" he mumbled, loud enough for Cam to know it wasn't rhetorical.

"I think he wanted what he believed to be an impartial opinion," Cam noted, taking a few steps forward. He might not be able to be there for Shane emotionally, but he could at least venture to be there for the other teen physically. To offer his presence was the least he could do.

"What are you saying?" Shane looked back at him.

"You're too close," Cam said, stopping as he reached Shane's side. He turned so that his back was to the table and crossed his arms. "He was afraid that the intimacy of your relationship would affect your response."

Shane looked away again, scratching his head uncomfortably. "We're not _that _close."

"Where are you going after this?" Cam asked, knowing full well the ranger's future location.

"Dustin's, but-" Shane started, as though he wouldn't go there on a normal day.

Who was he kidding?

"Even if he hadn't gotten the head injury, you probably would still go there, right?"

"Well yeah, but-"

"But nothing, you're best friends," Cam said (why should he have to explain this?). "He just wanted the opinion of an outsider; someone who he thought had nothing to lose. Now get out of here and go check on Dustin," he grumbled, waving Shane out the door before turning to seclude himself to his world of electronics.

"Hey Cam."

He heard the voice from behind him, and in the next moment Shane's hand was on his shoulder, squeezing it tight. "You're only an outsider if you let yourself be one."

"Did you read that in a fortune cookie?" Cam spat sarcastically, refusing to turn around.

He didn't know what would happen if he turned around, and that bothered him.

"I'm serious," Shane urged, taking the choice out of Cam's hands by circling around him. Something clicked in his eyes. "You should come with me."

"No, I'm good," Cam said quickly, pushing Shane's arm off.

The red ranger didn't take the hint.

"No, you're not," the air ninja insisted, cutting in front of Cam, blocking him from his computer. "You want in, there's no better chance then right now."

That was true, but still-

"I'm not going to interrupt your little male bonding ritual."

"You know he'd love it if you'd come."

Why? Cam had barely been nice to Dustin.

Cam searched his mind quickly for an excuse, folding his arms across his chest to buy time.

"…I have a cough," he stated weakly.

Shane's response was to look at him with an _"Oh no you don't" _face that made Cam feel like he was five again.

"Tough it out, you're going," Shane ordered, grabbing his arm.

Oddly enough, Cam wasn't immensely bothered by this.

Weird.

"…Fine, but I'm driving," Cam sighed, then allowed himself to be pulled out of Ninja Ops.

He wasn't sure how his father did it, but despite his form he still managed to convey a look of genuine amusement on his guinea pig face as he viewed the proceedings.

* * *

><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

* * *

><p>Endnotes:<p>

**On Shane:**

Muse: "Shane. Shane, boyscout-leader-face, Mcyawn-dude. Dude guy. Yawn face."

Me: "Mcyawn-dude?"

Muse: "Yawndude…cuz you know, everybody yawns."

Me: "That's some great characterization right there."

**On "playing hardball":**

Muse: "What is this? Are they having an alpha-male pissing contest? They _are_ having an alpha-male pissing contest!"

Me: "Yeah, Shane pretty much has those with all the guys. Except Dustin…and maybe Blake."

Muse: "Too much testosterone. I mean, Blake obviously doesn't have any because he's short and Dustin doesn't have any because he's a derp."

*sighs and shakes head* "Too much testerone."

Me: "Poor Tori."

Muse: "The lone uterus."

**On completing a line:**

Muse: _"What are you saying?" Shane looked back at him."_

Me: _"You're the father!"_

**On alternate endings:**

Muse: _"Hey Cam," he heard from behind him and Shane's hand is on his shoulder, squeezing it tight-_

"…and then his ass."

Me: "The end."

**Tracking:**

"The other" counter (chapter): 3

"The other" counter (cumulative): 7

Until next time


	5. Where Are You?

Chapter 5

Where are you?

I don't own Spamalot.

Takes place during Return of Thunder Part 1.

* * *

><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

* * *

><p>Shane hadn't noticed it before he had become a ranger but Blue Bay Harbor had a <em>lot<em> of abandoned factories. They weren't necessarily all factories, but they _were _deserted and they attracted Lothor's monsters like flies to honey. Whatever the reasoning behind this phenomenon, it worked for Shane. Less people nearby meant that they could focus all their attention on the monster instead of making sure civilians got away safely without getting injured.

The rangers kept their backs to one another, each scanning a different area. Everyone who had been here had left and it looked like the monster had gone with them…which was odd. No, it couldn't have left. The snail had attacked those people to draw them out. It must be hiding in order to wait for the most opportune moment to attack.

There were two options then. Option number one, they could split up and flush it out, or option number two, they could sit and wait for it to go on the offensive. Both had their advantages.

Snail man decided to take the choice out of Shane's hands by throwing another option on the table, i.e., his option, the one Shane _hadn't _known about. The entire factory filled with fog, flushing through pipes and passageways before it descended on the rangers with vengeful glee. It literally attacked them, hurling them in separate directions. As soon as it hit them Shane lost visual contact with Tori and Dustin, something he _would_ have worried about but he had bigger problems to deal with as the fog assaulted him, sparking on contact and throwing him into what felt like a metal wall. The shouts he heard from his teammates indicated that the same thing had happened to them as well. Unfortunately, the red ranger couldn't tell where the shouts were coming from and he _still_ hadn't seen any sign of that evil Snail.

It was just one of those days.

"Cam, where are the others?"

The tech _might_ have better luck than Shan did, but then again, this fog could be nastier than he thought.

A frustrated sigh confirmed his theory. "_I can't get a fix on them, that fog must be doing something to my sensors_."

Shane couldn't blame him for his bad mood.

"How about the bad guy?"

If Cam couldn't even find the rangers, odds were he wouldn't be able to find their bad guy either, but it didn't hurt to ask.

Shane wouldn't be a very good leader if he didn't.

"_Same problem_."

The red ranger would bet anything that Cam would evil-fog proof everything as soon as he was able, if there was a way to do such a thing. If there wasn't, the tech would just invent a way, and _then_ proof everything.

It must be really tiring to be Cam.

_Damn_, Shane was still stuck to the wall. He didn't really have any other options. If he went blindly wandering out there he would be walking right into the enemy's hands. There could have anything out there, maybe a trap, or maybe Shane would just get thrown into something else. First things first, the skater needed to get rid of the fog.

Luckily, he had the power of air on his side.

Unluckily, that was the _exact_ moment something dropped on him from above.

A shout of, "Eat this snail man!" was his only warning Shane got before Dustin tackled him from above, effectively shoving the red ranger to the ground.

Shane had to hand it to him, if Dustin had actually hit the snail guy it probably would have been a good attack.

"…oops," the yellow ranger murmured, embarrassed when he saw who he had hit. Quickly, Dusin rolled off his teammate before grabbing his arm and hauling him to his feet.

With a groan, Shane stood, clutching his ribs. That would hurt later.

"Sorry man, I thought you were..."

Shane waved him off, knowing full well what Dustin thought.

How high had Dustin been thrown?

Whatever, it was irrelevant, Dustin's shouts were sure to attract something and whether it was another fog attack or their missing snail Shane didn't want to find out. With his left hand he grabbed the yellow ranger's arm and began pulling him along, the air ninja using his right hand to guide them along the wall to their side.

The wall turned out to be a giant cylinder, and Shane followed the curve about halfway around before asked, "Do you have any idea where Tori is?"

Dustin shook his head no, waving away some of the fog from his face. "No, I was hoping you would-"

Suddenly the brunette was thrown forward into Shane by an unseen force. The red ranger grabbed onto him and held tight, not wanting to get separated again. Reuniting had been painful enough the first time; he would do without another round of _that_.

Instead of the ground they were knocked into what Shane assumed was another tank.

_Alright,_ Shane though._ Enough of this._

It was time to take action.

Keeping one of his arms locked around Dustin (just in case), Shane held up his other and focused all his energy before yelling, "Power of air!"

A gust of wind blew through the factory pushing away all that nasty fog and for the moment, everything was clear. About 15 feet away Shane could see Tori stumbling out of a building clutching her head, to her left was a large newly shattered window. That must have been what she had gotten thrown through; Shane hadn't even heard the glass break.

Man, this fog was _good_.

But they were better. They were going to find this guy, beat him down, and be done with mission debriefing before dinner. As long as they stopped him from using his fog again, they would be fine.

Shane's thoughts were cut off by a familiar laugh, signaling to Shane that they were dealing with more than one enemy.

Okay, this would take longer than he had originally planned.

"Getting cozy with your boy toy?" the crimson ranger taunted from his position on a catwalk high above them.

Shane fought to ignore the anger that flared up at that comment. They weren't toys and he wouldn't give them the pleasure of rising to their bait. If Blake and Hunter wanted to be evil that was just _fine_, but Shane wasn't going to play their silly games. He was better than that. Instead he focused on scanning Dustin's body for injuries as he stood back in fighting position, then moved on to checking Tori over whenever she made her way to the other two rangers.

Both appeared to be fine, but Shane would have Cam do a better check up whenever they wrapped this business up.

With that in mind, Shane quickly got back to the matter at hand.

"You wanna fight?" he yelled, pulling his sword from his sheath. "Then let's fight!"

"I thought you would never ask," Navy mocked before pulling out his pincers and jumping down to meet them. Crimson followed in suit and grabbed his staff, preparing for battle.

At this point, Shane wasn't going to bother reasoning with them. If they wanted to attack, there wasn't much he could do to change their minds. All he could do was stop them before they hurt anyone else or themselves. That was all.

Tori could nag at him for his command decisions later.

Blake rushed at him with the pincers, forcing Shane to jump back to avoid the weapon. Internally he grumbled, he had wanted to get Hunter for that _"boy toy" _crack he made earlier.

"Sorry we couldn't give you some more alone time," Navy pushed, humor clear in his voice. "But I thought I was about to lose my lunch."

Shane had to remind himself that Blake's goal was to make him angry so that he would lose focus. He couldn't just give in to the desire to smash the other ranger's puny face in.

Even if it was very tempting.

They exchanged blows back and forth; Shane stuck on the defensive, never being fast enough to get in more than a few hits. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Tori and Dustin didn't fare much better against the crimson ranger.

"Hunter didn't mind though," Blake continued, ignoring his silence. "I think he might have a thing for your yellow guy."

Shane didn't care; the other ranger was just trying to make him mad. That was all this was. The moment he lost focus his face was going to meet yet another wall. Or the ground. He just had to think of this as a test of will.

"Too bad he's on your team," Blake murmured gleefully, blocking Shane's kick and sweeping his leg underneath the red ranger, knocking him to the ground. The air ninja rolled away before Navy brought his leg down again and moved, quickly pushing himself back into a fighting stance. "Then again," Blake continued. "Maybe we could make him an offer, get him to switch sides."

Like Dustin would ever go with them.

"Or," the other ranger continued. "Maybe we could just trick him into it. He's been dumb enough to do that before."

He allowed the red ranger a second to process his jibe, and Shane could tell Blake was enjoying every minute of this. The Bradley brother knew, he _knew_ that would be the straw that broke the camel's back and Shane-

Shane saw red. Disregarding everything he had reminded himself of earlier he threw himself at Blake.

While the other ranger had skill he hadn't taken into account Shane's pure ferocity and was unprepared for the tackle that followed. Shane knocked him to the ground and punched him in the stomach before the younger thunder brother could recover. The red ranger felt a wave of satisfaction course through him as he heard Blake's _"omf"_ of pain. It was short lived when Hunter (who had probably watched this occur in disbelief) blasted Shane with lightening, flinging him off his brother.

Dustin and Tori ran to flank their leader's sides as he rolled to his feet, glaring at Blake and cursing himself. Everything Blake had said was probably a lie, made up specifically with him in mind, and he had fallen for it.

Still, he got one good hit in.

If Shane's luck held up, maybe he would get in another one.

_Hey, if it's a fight they want, it's a fight they get._

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

What?

What just happened? _Something _had just happened - a trivial comment obviously because that was the inherent function of the universe. Something happened; then something else happened, and then something _else_ proceeded to happen, but that wasn't the point Cam was trying to make here. The point was that something had just (in this past second) occurred (and despite the fact that the major function of Cam's job was to monitor what was going on he had _missed _it) that had made not only the Wind Rangers; but the Thunder Rangers disappear into thin air as though they never existed, and neither his computer, his father, nor his eyes could tell him any different. They had simply ceased to be. One instant they were fighting, the next instant, nothingness.

If Cam wasn't so busy being worried he would have thrown something across the room out of frustration.

His scanners did nothing except supply the data he _already_ knew indicating that there was no one piloting the zords. Of course there were pilots, they just weren't there!

The question then was where were they? Where had they gone? And, most importantly, how could Cam get them back?

They never should have trusted those Thunder brothers; Tori could say whatever she wanted if that brought her any comfort, but those two were nothing but nuisances. First of all they were dumb enough to trust the word of an evil space ninja (because really, did the title "evil space ninja" inspire trust?), and second, they went out of their way to completely total the only people who were _fighting_ said evil space ninja, who (as mentioned above), was dead set on fulfilling the "evil" part of his title. Lastly, they had actually managed to not only hurt the Wind Rangers, but trash their weapons, weapons on which _Cam_ had spent a great deal of time and effort.

Wind rangers who-_good_ people who Cam might have become just a _tiny_ bit fond of.

Were they on drugs? What had happened to them? First they were attacking Lothor, or that was the story they sold to Tori, and then the next thing he knew they were back to their favorite pastime _"let's destroy the good guys!"._

Cam needed to spend less time with Dustin. Or more time reading, either would work.

The tech attempted to ignore the churning in his stomach at the thought of the yellow ranger. Then he attempted to ignore that Dustin had affected his physical being in any form.

He failed in both efforts.

Cam had failed him. He had failed _all_ of them. His one lousy job was to monitor and provide support while they were in the field and supply whatever they needed, whenever they might need it. He was to coordinate, inform, and regulate the rangers and he was currently unable to fulfill that duty, rendering him worthless. Dustin always looked to him to be the smart one, but he wasn't all that cracked up to it, was he? Couldn't even fill his own shoes.

Frowning, Cam keyed in some more data to widen up his search options. He stared at the monitor intensely, waiting. The screen remained stubbornly blank. He smacked the table in frustration, his keyboard jolted from the intensity of the hit.

What had they done to them? They had done _something_. Were they jetted away into an alternate dimension? Did they get teleported to another planet? Did Lothor actually manage to capture them? What happened?

And why couldn't he find them?

Cam whipped his hands away from the keyboard and shoved them into his lap, slowly intertwining his fingers as he exhaled. He folded his legs onto his chair Lotus style and closed his eyes, deeply inhaling through his nose before slowly exhaling through his mouth once more.

Blaming himself wasn't getting him anywhere, and neither was worrying. He needed to clear his mind, free it of all the emotions that were distracting him from doing his job. He needed a fresh slate.

Cam took his time, making sure to do everything right so that he could begin to function properly again.

_How did it come to this?_

He never thought…it sounded so _cold _in retrospect, but he never thought he would ever come to care about these rangers enough for him to get like this. He had always meant to keep a wall of professionalism between them, to remain emotionally disengaged, but somehow they had wormed (and it was Dustin that started it) their way under his skin and were driving him crazy.

They were family now.

And he just wanted them safe.

Inhale

_Focus_

Exhale

_Focus_

Inhale

_om mani padme hum_

Exhale

_om mani padme hum_

The tech continued his mental chanting until he felt a semblance of peace return. Cam persisted with his slow breathing but slowly opened his eyes; readjusting to the gentle glow of his monitor, the core of his work displayed before him, balancing in between reality and mental construct.

There was nothing, no anger, no frustration, simply himself and his work. Speaking of which, that was something he needed to get back to. He withdrew his hands from his lap and unfolded his legs, feeling purified, at least in mind. Now, _now_ he would focus on the momentous task before him. Locate the rangers, reestablish communication, get them back. He would not stop until he achieved this goal.

Cam quickly went back to work on his computer, accessing new methods to widen his search. Calm as he was, and as smart as he was, and knowing that he needed desperately to stay calm, he couldn't help but feel the slightest tinge of worry in the back of his mind.

Whatever might have happened to them...to his _friends_…he hoped they weren't hurt.

He didn't know what he would do if they got hurt.

* * *

><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

* * *

><p>Endnotes:<p>

**On line interpretations:**

Muse: _"…I think he might have a thing for your yellow guy."_

*laughs* "Cuz _that's_ not racist."

Me: "He's talking about Dustin."

Muse: *laughs again* "Cuz **_that's_** not racist."

**On drawing a line:**

Muse: _"Shane saw red." _

*scoffs* "Of course he saw red-"

Me: "_No_. That's **_not_**_ funny_."

**On alternate endings:**

Muse: _"Disregarding everything he had reminded himself of earlier he threw himself at Blake."_

*pauses* "Well, _damn_."

Me: *evil smile* "And then they started passionately making out and had five babies."

Muse: "Giggidy."

Me: "The end."

Muse: "We're going to have to start up an alternate ending counter, aren't we?"

Me: "And probably a counter-counter."

**On casual drop-ins:**

Muse: _"Still, he got one good hit in."_

*thinks* "He should have killed him."

Me: *laughs* "Yeah, I'll just casually throw that thought in there. Anything else you'd like to add?"

Muse: "Puddingz?"

Me: "_Awesome_."

**On angst:**

Muse: _"His one lousy job was-"_

*exasperated* "Why angst? He goes from- oh, wait, teenagers, okay."

Me: "We cool?"

Muse: "We're cool."

**On adlibbing:**

Muse: "Couldn't even fill his own shoes. And what shitty shoes they were. He should go shopping."

**On being productive:**

Muse: _"Cam whipped his hands away from the keyboard and shoved them into his lap-"_

*scoffs* "Because that's _oh-so_ productive."

Me: "Read the rest of the god damn chapter."

Muse: "If you're shoving your hands in your lap you're probably doing something that isn't appropriate in public."

*frowns* "There's a time and a place man, and now is _not_ it."

Me: *glares*

**Tracking:**

"The other" count (Chapter): 2

"The other" count (Cumulative): 9

Alternate endings count: 2

Until next time


	6. I Can't do it Alone

Chapter 6

I Can't Do It Alone

I don't own Chicago the Musical

Takes place during "Boxing Bopp a Roo", after the events of Toxipod's island

* * *

><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

* * *

><p>It was official (not that it needed to be because when it was unofficial it was still pretty cool), they were winners. They couldn't help it; it was simply their natural state of being.<p>

In Dustin's opinion, that was pretty awesome.

After much deliberation (though the yellow ranger could have told them it was completely unnecessary), and all of them getting sucked onto an evil island and the Thunder rangers getting turned evil, and then turned good, and then Hunter turned evil _and_ good, and then Cam finding them, and _then_ yet _another_ attack from Choobo (who seemed to really have it out for them), Hunter and Blake had finally come around and agreed to join their team, allowing Dustin to finally utter the "I told you so" he had been saving for Shane (not that his friend had doubted him, he just really wanted to say "I told you so").

Dustin, for one, was glad. Not only would they be stronger, they totally wouldn't have to stress as much when they were fighting because if three rangers were winners, then five rangers would be supreme winning winners of winnington, or something along those lines. And Tori (she hadn't said this but the earth ninja knew) was super happy about it too because she got to spend more time with Blake. Dustin had tried to tease her about that but was silenced when she gave him the evil eye and raised her hand threateningly.

Hey, she hit hard, and a little teasing was not worth _that_.

Sensei, from what Dustin could gather, was happy about the _idea_ of the Wind and Thunder rangers working together because he was old and that was what he appreciated, and Cam was happy about the added firepower. That, Dustin didn't have to guess at because the green-loving teen had told him during his first nightly visit after the team up had become official.

Blake, as far as Dustin could tell, was happy for the same reason Tori was, and Dustin wasn't going to tease _him_ about it because, well…midgets were mean. And it would probably get back to Tori anyway, so he would be in for twice the pain.

The only people who didn't seem happy with the arrangement were Shane and Hunter.

The "added firepower" (to use Cam's words) they were all for; in fact they seemed to do okay with just about everybody.

Except of course, each other.

Tori said it was an alpha male thing, that they were having issues giving up their authority because they had both been "in charge" (Tori' was the one that used the air quotations, _he_ had thought Shane was in charge) of their "respective teams". (Dustin added air quotes to that last part because he hadn't known what respective meant until a few days ago, when he bugged Cam to tell him.)

Right.

It became pretty obvious during training that the two red rangers had issues dealing with each other, and Sensei decided (though _why_ was beyond Dustin) to split them apart from the rest of the team and let them duke it out until they respected each other or something. Like, beat out their feelings. They started doing this a week ago and as far as Dustin knew, it hadn't worked (unless the goal was to get ridiculous amounts of bruising), and try as he might (and he'd tried pretty hard) he couldn't get Shane to talk about it.

So basically the team was stuck until the reds could work out their differences.

Cam tried to point out that teamwork was something that kindergartners had mastered and suggested that they go find two of _them_ to save the world until Shane and Hunter felt like growing up. While it would be kind of amusing/cute to have two six year old rangers running around (they would be like mini-me's), like Sensei's "beat it out" plan, Dustin thought it was a bad idea. When he informed Cam of this the other teen had simply raised an eyebrow and told the brunette he had been joking. Which in retrospect, made a lot more sense. You'd think Dustin would be better at picking up on those kinds of things by now.

Anyway, Dustin had defended Shane; the skater wasn't doing it on purpose (Dustin thought) but ever since the whole island thing Shane just _did not_ like Hunter. The brunette had thought that _maybe_ with the excitement of Kelly's Total Trek (_he_ had been psyched and he couldn't even participate) both Shane and Hunter would get distracted and focus on that instead. If it weren't for the skateboard section Dustin would totally own this contest, but he wasn't going to try _that_ again anytime soon.

In a way his hypothesis had been right. Except instead of working _together_ they had decided to use the Total Trek as another way to compete with each other to further draw out their alpha male fighting issues.

And Dustin had been hoping that Shane would team up with him for the partner competition too.

Well, so much for that.

The earth ninja was currently at the track, attempting to teach Shane what he needed to know to at least _stay_ on the bike during the motocross section of the Trek. Shane (he would never understand it) seemed to have issues when dealing with dirt bikes. Put him on a Tsunami cycle and throw a bunch of Kelzaks in the way he could ride for hours one handed, blasting away with his free hand and kicking stray enemies out of the way easily. But bring him to the track, unmorphed, on a regular bike and it was a recipe for disaster.

So despite the fact Dustin was pretty sure Shane wasn't going to get far he agreed to coach the other teen, not that the red ranger could learn how to ride in the short amount of time they had (the Trek was in four days). But this was Shane, who Dustin would do just about anything for, so here he was, lecturing away even though his friend wasn't listening.

Probably thinking about Hunter.

He should be focusing on _him_ dagnabit.

Dustin sighed and waved Shane off as he surged forward on the bike, hoping he would at least make a lap if anything else.

_Come on._

_Come on._

**_Come on._**

…

Nertz.

His hope was for nothing, as his friend crashed into a bale of hay before he even made it to the track. _Maybe_ if Shane had paid attention he wouldn't be eating dirt right now.

Or hay.

And the bike wouldn't be either.

…_hm_

Who was he kidding; Shane just didn't have a knack for this.

With a wince Dustin raced forward to check on his friend, and more importantly the bike.

Okay, so it was mostly to check on Shane.

Mostly.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

After failed attempt number twelve (which had been slightly better than failed attempt number seven, which had been _awful, _and slightly worse than failed attempt number four where Shane managed to stay on the track for a total of four seconds which was, so far, his longest running time_)_ Dustin suggested (insisted) they take a water break so that Shane could rest his body and so _Dustin _could fix the bike. And to be honest, he was getting a little tired of watching Shane run into stationary objects. Sure, it was funny when it was on TV and it was somebody you didn't know, but this was his best friend, and _he_ was the one who was going to have to fix all the bike damage when this was over. It would be best if Shane just cut his losses now.

The curly-haired teen decided to bring this up casually.

Dustin wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, staring off into the distance (he'd seen Hunter do it a few times) for added effect (coolness) before breaking the silence. "You know if you-"

"No," Shane replied, cutting him off completely.

He hadn't even said anything. Not really.

Dustin stared at him, eyebrows furrowed. "I didn't even-"

"No," Shane interrupted again, staring at him hard.

Now he was just being stubborn. For all he knew Dustin could be trying to give him really helpful information.

Dustin kept his cool and reached forward to squeeze his arm. "Oh, come on-"

"No," Shane broke in, waving his water bottle. "If Hunter can do it, I can do it."

_Oh really, because the past hour would prove differently_.

Dustin told it like it was. "I'm all for the power of believing man, but you really suck at this."

He was just trying to be honest.

Shane glared at him coldly in return and said nothing.

Dustin wilted after a few minutes under his stare. "Its _true,_" he admitted, gesturing towards Shane's mud-covered track suit. He was becoming very intimate with the ground lately.

"Thanks for the support," Shane growled, looking away from Dustin again and taking another chug from his water bottle. So he was frustrated, big deal. If he would just let Dustin _help_ they could all be hunky dory right now and be at home playing video games or something instead of thinking about how much it was going to cost to fix the bike. Or at least, Dustin could.

"Look," Dustin started, moving to get in front of Shane. "We could just do the team thing and then-"

"_No_," Shane barked.

If Dustin didn't know better he would think it was Shane's new favorite word. He didn't know why the idea of working with him was so unappealing.

"I'm just thinking about all the other innocent bales of hay," Dustin insisted, trying to lighten the mood.

Shane didn't feel like cooperating. "They'll be _fine," _he groused, tossing the empty water bottle into the bag behind him without looking.

Why couldn't the Total Trek have that? _That_ he could do.

It figured.

Being subtle (as Dustin could be) hadn't worked. Being insistent hadn't worked and being humorous (which was something Dustin was really good at) hadn't worked, so he would have to go to his last resort and try to be…_logical._

Using logic to win an argument was weird, no matter what you said.

Dustin sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Let's be realistic here-"

Shane interrupted, yet again. "You're spending too much time with Cam."

_What?_

Dustin hadn't even managed to get an argument out. Unless "realistic" was an argument in itself, and last time Dustin checked, it wasn't.

"I am not!" he shouted, even though he wasn't sure why.

Like, how much was too much, and what did it have to do with the conversation, and if Shane was mad at Hunter why was he taking it out on _Dustin?_ He was just trying to help.

"Whatever," Shane muttered with surprising fierceness.

Dustin stepped back as though he had been slapped, staring at his friend in wonder.

_That_ was the last straw.

Shane seemed to sense he had crossed a line and sighed, shoulders slumping before looking back at him. "…I'm sorry."

"Whatever," Dustin bit out, mimicking the red ranger's previous tone and grabbing his gear off of the ground. He wasn't going to stick around to be a punching bag for Shane's issues. If he wanted to listen to people berate him he would visit the jocks at school.

"Dustin-" Shane began, calling after him

It was the yellow ranger's turn to cut him off. "Good luck riding. You can ask Tori for help."

Even if she had crashed his bike, she at least made it _onto _the course.

"Dustin!" Shane shouted again, beginning to trail after him.

Dustin simply glared at the other teen over his shoulder, freezing him in his place. "Later bro."

Maybe he would go and spend more time with Cam. Or better yet, Hunter. That would really grind Shane's gears.

Gears…like a robot.

Dustin wondered if Cam could do the robot. He was good at like, everything. It would make sense.

_Well, only one way to find out._

Putting a smile on his face, Dustin began the run to Ninja Ops, preparing to make the most of the rest of his day off. It wouldn't all be a waste.

He tried to push away the bitter feeling in his stomach.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

Shane stared at his friend's retreating back, cursing himself for his anger. He _never_ shouted at Dustin, not really, but he was just so frustrated lately.

"Nuts," he muttered to himself, tossing his helmet aside.

There wouldn't be any more riding today.

He sighed again.

They had finally gotten their team working well together, like, _really_ well. He didn't have to worry about them when they went into a fight because he _knew_ they would come out of it fine. He thought the addition of the Thunder Rangers would help them, and they had, but Hunter didn't feel like cooperating and now he had to go through _this_ to prove who was in charge and now Dustin…

Shane sighed again, whacking the side of his head. Maybe he could smack the stupid away.

He bent over and zipped up his bag, packing up all his gear. Shane would hit the Skate park; doing something he was good at would clear his head. He slung the bag over his back and began pushing the bike back to equipment van.

"…I'm blaming Hunter," he mumbled to himself in an attempt to lift his spirits.

Unfortunately, he didn't have the heart to mean it.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

"You really suck at this."

_Yes Blake, _**_thank you_**_, I had _**_thought_**_ the goal was to see how many times I could smash my face into the ground, thank _**_goodness_**_ for your input or I would have dared to continue thinking I was _**_awesome_**.

And while Hunter _really_ wanted to voice this pleasant train of thought he knew better than to take out his frustrations on his brother. It was _Shane's_ fault he was doing this anyway, not Blake's. If he was going to give anyone a major tongue-lashing it would be _that _ego-driven moron.

The crimson ranger collected his board and tried to think about what he had done wrong (aside from climbing on the stupid board in the first place) and Blake moseyed up beside him, looking far too pleased at his brother's difficulties. Okay, Hunter got it, his brother was really happy he got his girlfriend back, big whoop. There was no need to rub his satisfaction in Hunter's face. At least, not now. He'd be all for it later.

"Seriously," Blake continued, smirking as Hunter rubbed the small of his back (damn…_freaking_ board), "I think you're becoming a danger to everyone here."

Hunter willed his glare to somehow injure Blake.

His brother remained unimpressed.

"You're _really_ bad at this," he repeated, as though Hunter hadn't heard him the first time. The blond waved him off and lined up his next…movement, thingy. Alright, he was really just hoping to stay on the board for farther than ten feet. He was a freaking thunder ninja, years of training, hard work, dedication. He should be able to handle staying _on_ a _freaking _**_board_**.

Five seconds later he was back to blinking up at the sky, and his brother's legs slowly walked into view, probably staring wistfully at his free-rolling skateboard, continuing off in the distance.

This was all Shane's fault. Hunter had been all for joining forces. Yeah, he wasn't exactly the sociable type but this was basic logic. They were strong apart, they'd be stronger together, then they'd have a better shot at beating Lothor. Everybody wins. Hunter didn't exactly _like_ it, would prefer just handling it with Blake, but _not_ joining teams would just be stubborn and inefficient. With their combined powers they'd be able to do way more damage. Hunter had begrudgingly accepted this. Had accepted the fact he would have to become used to/tolerate/maybe even _befriend_ these people. He had even mentally prepared himself before their first new-team training.

And then _Shane_, in all his machismo and stupidity had decided he wasn't a big fan of having another red guy. All Hunter had tried to do was make a few suggestions at improving his technique and suddenly it was freaking world war three, Shane drawing a line in the sand and making sure that Hunter was on the other side.

You know what, _fine_. Hunter could play that game. He liked games, hell, he _won_ games. Games were easy, as long as you kept your eyes on the goal and stayed completely detached from the changing winds. Put blinders on, ignore your surroundings. _That's_ how you survived.

And after he had smacked Shane down hard enough for his _grandchildren_ to feel it, Hunter was going to set this stupid skateboard on _fire_.

And then…

Lunch.

Lunch sounded like a good plan.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

"You should be flattered that I thought of you first dude, I don't know why you're bugging."

Cam sighed heavily before looking at him with exasperated eyes. "Look Dustin, just because I'm intelligent doesn't mean I'm automatically good at everything."

_Could've fooled me._

The brunette tried to defend himself.

"That's not what I meant," he began, sweeping a dirt pile into the dustpan. "I meant that you're already good at a lot of stuff so why can't doing the robot be one of them?"

Cam frowned and went back to typing. "Because I like to focus on the important things in life."

Dustin paused mid-sweep. "And getting funky isn't one of them?"

Because if it wasn't, it should be.

"Don't make me answer that," Cam replied tersely, clacking away at his keyboard.

The guy could multitask.

"You need to learn how to relax man," Dustin said, ditching his broom and walking over to Cam, massaging his shoulders. "Get your party on."

They frowned simultaneously. Cam from the excessive touching, Dustin at the tense muscles.

Did this guy ever relax?

"That sounds a lot like something I would never want to do," Cam muttered, pausing to push Dustin's hands off. "Ever."

Dustin waited a moment before resuming his massage; his mom said he was really good at them.

Cam sighed but didn't bother trying to stop him this time.

"What do you do when you're not doing this?" Dustin asked, smile spreading across his face.

Cam remained silent.

"Come on, you _have_ to do other things," he continued, pressing a little harder on a particularly sore spot.

Cam hissed, but again, didn't stop him. "I don't _have_ to do anything, except die."

He supposed Cam had a point. Like, Dustin knew it was the only guarantee you had in life (he had heard that on TV), like, you weren't even guaranteed that you were going to live but-

Cam looked at him questioningly.

Oh, he had stopped moving his hands.

Dustin gave a sheepish smile and started up again. "I always thought that was more of an unfortunate consequence."

"Of living?" Cam asked, tilting his head to the side.

Dustin thought about this.

"…yes?" he asked, pitch rising slightly.

So he hadn't thought it through that much.

"Answering a question with a question isn't really answering," Cam informed him, finishing one…thing on the screen and starting up another one.

"…sorry?" Dustin offered, wincing at the question.

He couldn't help it; he didn't know how to answer.

Cam sighed. "You're forgiven."

"Awesome," Dustin said, bouncing slightly in place.

He was just getting back to focusing on his new job when two beeps emitted from his morpher. A quick look told him it was Shane.

He promptly ignored it; the red ranger would just have to deal.

After a few more beeps Cam stopped his typing and looked at him. "Shouldn't you answer that?"

Dustin shook his head, not stopping his massage. "Its Shane," he informed helpfully.

"And?" Cam asked, waiting for a full explanation.

And it was national everybody-ignore-Shane day where you ignored guys named Shane, except when you bake a cake and go out of your way to find guys named Shane and eat it in front of them and laugh at them and hold it away from them because they couldn't have any, because their names were _Shane_.

A shake on Dustin's hand snapped him out of his thoughts, and he looked down in time to see Cam's worried look.

He smiled at the tech reassuringly.

"I'm giving him the cold shoulder," he explained, as though nothing happened.

Cam, because he understood, went along with it.

"Dare I ask why?" he asked, finally going back to typing after giving the yellow ranger one last look.

_I'm not gonna break dude_.

Dustin sighed, thinking about what had happened. "I don't want to talk to him."

"That's usually why one gives the cold shoulder," Cam muttered, not impressed by his answer.

He wasn't impressed with a lot of things.

Dustin started rubbing little circles on the back of Cam's neck, earning a contented sigh in return.

Check, Cam liked the massage.

Dustin's morpher gave off two more beeps which he continued to ignore. He dared Shane to try talking to him.

"What did he do?"

Dustin almost missed the question in his staring contest with the morpher.

"Be a jerkface," he replied. Then he went back to staring.

Cam slowed his typing before stopping altogether, turning his chair around to face the earth ninja, forcing him to take a step back. "Dustin."

That was all he said. Like, that was all he needed to say to get Dustin to spill his guts and…okay, so he wouldn't spill his guts, but it was nice to have someone just stop for him. Even if it made him a little uncomfortable.

Dustin fidgeted for a second now that his hands were unoccupied.

"He's just mad," he explained, scratching the back of his head. "I couldn't take it."

Cam nodded in understanding. "Displaced anger?"

"Yeah," Dustin replied, going back to his dustpan. He focused better when his hands were busy.

"I'm avoiding him," he finished, emptying it into the trash can. He tried to ignore the eyes that were boring into the side of his head.

"How's that going?" Cam asked, sounding…interested.

Cool.

"Pretty good I think," Dustin chirped, smiling for the first time since his morpher beeped. He continued. "Its like, incentive," he reasoned, hunting down stray dirt. "Once he gets along with Hunter I'll talk to him again."

Dustin looked up worriedly when Cam didn't answer right away, he was afraid his idea was dumb, but the look on Cam's face appeared thoughtful.

"That," the tech started, pointing at Dustin to emphasize his point. "Might actually work."

Dustin felt his cheeks heat up and turned away from Cam, mumbling, "Thank you."

That was the closest Cam had ever come to telling him "good job", and while Shane and Tori might have said it to him before (and even Sensei), it just…meant a little more when it came from Cam. To impress someone so impressive totally made his day.

Forget Shane.

"I didn't know you were so devious," Cam commented, turning back to his work with a smile.

He had obviously seen Dustin's reaction.

"What?" the yellow ranger asked, when he realized he had no idea what he meant.

"Scheming," Cam clarified, typing away.

One day, Dustin would ask him what he was working on. For all the brunette knew it was a glorified version of pong.

After that they worked in silence for a bit, Dustin finished his sweeping (dusting would be next) while Cam switched from his computer to this ray-gun looking thing he'd been fiddling with for a while now. It was the only thing he had refused to explain, something about it being "a secret".

In Dustin's opinion the tech wasn't sure what it would do yet, and _that_ was why he refused to talk about it.

Cam broke the silence. "Why aren't you competing in the Total Trek?"

Despite rarely leaving Ninja Ops Cam knew all about the Trek, and it wasn't just because of Dustin; Tori, Shane and Hunter had been going on and on about it all week. In his visits Dustin had never mentioned entering or training for it, so Cam must have figured he was opting out.

"Skateboards and me don't mix," Dustin answered, putting the broom back into the closet. He grabbed the duster and Pledge off the shelf.

"Skateboards and _I_," Cam corrected.

"_'Skateboards and you' _what?"

Cam stared at the other teen in barely-concealed amusement before waving the comment off.

"Never mind." He frowned at a stubborn wire…or something. "Bad experience?" he asked without looking up.

_Total understatement._

"Yeah, I totally smashed my face into the ground." Dustin cringed at the memory. "I'm not doing that again."

_No way, no how._

Cam scoffed at him. "It's not that hard, it's just physics."

_No, I think not._

It was more like the most impossible thing in the world.

Dustin wagged his finger at Cam knowingly. "You're smart dude, but smarts don't help your balance."

And even if it _did_, smarts didn't help you land major tricks without breaking your neck or your arms or other happy things you needed to do _other_ happy things. Like order pizza.

"I beg to differ," Cam murmured, staring closer at a circuit thing. "If you understand what you're doing and think about your execution, your probabilities of success will increase exponentially."

So if you looked before you leap? It sounded like it would work in theory but-

…_Hm_.

He smelled an idea.

"So," Dustin began, trying to sound casual while dusting off a random monitor; there were about twenty of them. "Even someone who's never been on a board…"

Cam took the bait easily.

Perhaps Dustin _was_ this "devious" thing.

"If they have their theory down it shouldn't be too hard," Cam replied, finally showing that circuit/wire/screw what was what.

There were no more words to be said as Cam, in his learnified knowledgeness, had said them for him, so Dustin settled on stopping what he was doing and giving the other teen his patented puppy dog eyes until he gave in.

Cam noticed what the yellow ranger was doing after a few minutes, questioning look on his face until what the curly-haired ninja wanted finally dawned on him; and he pointed at Dustin sternly. "No."

Well, he hadn't expected Cam to come easy.

"Please?" Dustin asked, because it never hurt.

"No," Cam replied, looking away from him in an attempt to end this conversation.

Dustin wasn't going to give up without a fight.

"Come on Cam-" he pleaded, but the tech cut him off.

"No."

"But you just said-"

"I lied," Cam insisted, avoiding looking at him. He seemed to have found the weakness of the puppy dog eyes.

"You didn't," Dustin shot back, abandoning his dusting duties and moving so that he was right beside Cam, completely ignoring the bespectacled teen's personal bubble. He stared hard at the side of Cam's face.

Cam continued focusing on his toy.

"I'm not doing it."

He stated it like a fact.

Well as it turned out, facts were unimportant in the world of Dustin.

"Please?" Dustin asked again, leaning against the tech. He almost felt like a kid at the grocery store, leaning his entire body on mom so that she would buy him some candy. He hoped he wouldn't have to throw a tantrum. That was _so_ not his style.

Cam was irritated but ignored his movement.

"No," he insisted again.

"Pretty please?" Dustin tried.

It was a super-sized please.

"How is that better?" Cam asked irritably, making the mistake of looking at him.

_Because it's _**_super_**_-sized._

Dustin was there, eyes going full force. "Pretty please with sugar on top?"

Their faces were only inches apart; there was no way his look would not work. The closer you were to the puppy dog eyes, the more vulnerable you were. Cam stared at him for a few seconds before shaking Dustin off and jerking his head away, focusing fully on his work.

"No," he ground out between clenched teeth.

_Nertz_, he had almost had him.

It was time for plan B.

Subliminal messaging.

Or maybe not; Dustin wasn't totally sure what subliminal messaging _was_.

_This_, would be Dustin-subliminal message.

"Do it Cam," he coaxed, excitement building, threatening to overwhelm him.

Cam ignored the earth ninja and turned his head the other way.

Dustin bounded over to his other side, repeating, "_Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it_," at varying volumes and rhythms, whatever it took; he hadn't really cared about the race but the idea of Cam on a skateboard was too good to pass up on.

"Now you're not even providing an argument!" Cam exploded, finally looking at him again.

Dustin surged forward, wrapping his arm around the tech's shoulders. "Do it pretty, pretty _please_."

How 'bout that; two pretty's.

"Think of how awesome it would be if we won!" It would be _ridiculous_. "We would be total underdogs and they would be all doubtful and stuff and then we'd come up from behind and smack them down!"

That would teach Shane.

…_what?_

"No," Cam echoed, breaking Dustin from his thoughts.

The yellow ranger shook his head and focused; he was almost winning this. "Come on, this would be the perfect chance for you to relax."

It was the next best thing to getting funky.

Cam looked like he was about to toss Dustin's arm off but thought better of it.

"I can think of at least ten other things that would be far more relaxing," he grumbled, giving Dustin a light glare.

He should put it into terms Cam would understand, that was what the tech always did for Dustin when he didn't get something.

And that was a lot.

"Think of it as an experiment," he stated happily. Cam always loved a good experiment.

"No."

Okay, now he was just being stubborn. If Cam was smart enough to be able to skateboard the only reason he was holding out was because he felt like being mean.

…Unless he was just talking the talk.

_Hmm_…that could be it, and Dustin was just embarrassing him or something.

_Oops._

"Oh…" he whispered, it finally dawning on him. "I get it."

Cam looked at him suspiciously. "What?"

Dustin pulled off his arm, suddenly feeling silly about the whole thing. "You can't do it."

"What?" Cam echoed, but this time it was in disbelief.

_It's not that hard to get man._

Dustin smiled at his friend knowingly. "You're all talk but you can't do it-"

"I can do it," Cam cut off, defending himself. His eyes widened and he began to shake his finger at Dustin. "And you're not going to bait me-"

Bait?

Dustin wished he knew what he was doing sometimes so that he could do it better.

"_Please_ Cam," he repeated; giving up on his other tactics and sticking with the one he was good at.

This time Cam hesitated before answering "…No."

It almost sounded like a question.

"Cam?" Dustin pressed, tentatively.

The green-clothed teen frowned, eyes locked with Dustin's. They stood like that, silent, for who knew how long.

It felt like forever.

It was probably a few minutes.

"…fine," Cam gave in with a sigh, slumping his shoulders.

"Really?" Dustin asked; it was almost too good to be true.

"Yes," Cam replied, and Dustin was across the room in a heartbeat, latching on to the tech with a fierce hug, pressing his face against the other teen's neck.

"But I'm not practicing with other people around," Cam warned, like he would get stage fright or something. "We'll do it at night."

_Whatever you want man._

This was going to be great.

Dustin broke off the hug, taking a few steps back.

"Tomorrow then?" he asked, then without waiting for an answer, because they were totally going to do it tomorrow, he said, "I'll get you some gear."

He still had the stuff he tried to use last year. Dustin had acquired his own set because the stuff that Shane had intended to let him borrow had been _way_ too red.

"Dustin-" Cam began, calling after the brunette as he made his way out of the lab.

"Don't sweat it man; I got this!" Dustin yelled over his shoulder, beginning his run home.

He so totally did. It was nice having something for a change.

Now if only he could remember where he put that stuff.

* * *

><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

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><p>Endnotes:<p>

**On adlibbing:**

Muse: _"Cam wasn't impressed by a lot of things."_

*thinks* "Even ducks. Except to Dustin. Because Ducks are awesome."

And yep, that's all we had for this chapter.

**Tracking:**

"The other" count (Chapter): 0

"The other" count (Cumulative): 9

Until next time.


	7. Magic Foot

Chapter 7

The Barest Whiffs of Scorched Pants

Much love and adoration for my beta the real vampire for fixing all my slip-ups. And for also making sure I stick with that continuity business. Such a fickle thing, continuity. Thanks vamps, you're a peach : )

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><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

* * *

><p>Hunter was not having a good day.<p>

He had not had a good yesterday either.

In fact, he was just going to go ahead and say that the day before _that_ had been kind of crappy too, because even "kind of crappy" made this perpetual stream of _bullshit_ look like the sunniest of Mondays.

Hunter was even willing to go out on a limb and say tomorrow would also be bad, because he was just that kind of optimist.

His ribs seconded this opinion, not that Hunter particularly cared. He was not on good speaking terms with those guys right now.

"Why does this shit keep happening to us?" Hunter asked, having to shout so Blake and Dustin could pick it up from his helmet's external speakers. There was a twinge in his side, just a dull ache to remind him he wasn't up to a hundred percent yet, but he pushed past it. "Honestly, you would think we'd committed genocide in our past lives or something."

He finished this complaint with a rather stunning spin kick to a Kelzak's chest, knocking it into a not-so-stealthy Marah attempting to sneak up on Dustin.

Across the room Blake spared a second to look at him. "Are you suggesting you were Hitler in your past life?" he asked, swinging his Thunder Staff in a low arc and knocking a wave of Kelzaks off their feet. "Because I know you beat yourself up sometimes…" He braced a foot against the wall behind him and launched himself into a streak, barreling full force into his target, Choobo. "But that's taking self-hatred to an uncomfortably strong level."

Dustin (who was fighting Kapri on the…ceiling somehow? Hunter wasn't sure how he managed that one), knocked the pink-haired Kunoichi back with his Lion Hammer and glanced over at Blake. "Maybe we should like, actually send him to counseling, like we talked about."

The crimson ranger paused mid-punch, allowing Marah to pull back and regroup, and tried to register what he had just heard. "Rewind a second, _counseling?_" he spat, sending a short burst of lightning at some Kelzaks getting a little too close to Blake's back. "And who is this 'we'?"

"It certainly didn't involve me," Blake murmured, trying for innocence Hunter knew for a _fact_ he didn't have.

Dustin confirmed this a second later, successfully smashing Kapri _off_ of the ceiling and into the overturned coffee table. "Dude, of course it did, there was a whole team discussion about-"

"_Team_ discussion?!" Hunter yelled, punching Marah harder than he had intended, knocking her across the room and…yeah, there went the kitchen table. "As in," Hunter continued, holding onto that anger in preference for worrying over stuff he couldn't control. "Including Shane?"

Dustin nodded nice and slow, and Hunter could tell by his posture he had that wide-eyed look he wore whenever he was trying to be informative. "Shane _is_ part of the team."

"I'm part of the team!" Hunter shouted back (though he really shouldn't, he was stubborn like that) trying, and ridiculously failing, _not_ to focus on the team behind-the-back gossipings.

He thought they had decided not to _do_ that anymore! Because it never led to good things. They were not a group of people who could _handle_ gossiping; too many of them were too goddamn _unbalanced_ to know what was normal-stuff-you-can-keep-from-each-other and what was too oh-I-might-be-suffering-some-possible-internal-inj uries/made-out-with-your-boyfriend-on-accident(emp hasis on the _accident_)/I'm-not-emotionally-stable-enough-to-deal-with-h appiness business that led to hospital trips and _fights_ that led to hospital trips and breakdowns that led to people not talking to each other for a very long period of time and…okay, Hunter was getting a little sidetracked, but the point _was_ they had all agreed, all of them, that if there was a major problem they would tackle it as a _team_ with _words and shit_ instead of just sneaking around and pulling highly nonsensical and elaborate schemes behind someone's back to avoid the rather simple task of _talking to them._

They had even made a pledge and everything. What was the point of having a pledge if they didn't even _stick_ to it?

But Blake (because Blake knew Hunter well enough to have some idea of the mental tirade he was going through right now) attempted to justify this backstabbing anyway, shooting off a small pulse of lightening that ended up with Kelzak bodies flying everywhere in a glorious fashion (and no, Hunter would not be won over so easily, even if it had been highly amusing). "Will you relax? Cam didn't get invited either."

Hunter was about to give the very original comeback of _"No,_ _I will _**_not_**_ relax"_ when he was overcome by a wave of immeasurable _glee_ that Cam had been excluded from team-activities, especially gossip-about-Hunter time. Cam would have _loved_ to say bad things about Hunter but he _couldn't _because he wasn't invited-

"I thought that was because we thought he should go to counseling too."

And there went Dustin, shattering the illusion. Hunter paused, long enough to get sent flying into the wall as he gave into the desire to mope a little. Shane had broken the pledge. He had broken the pledge and he hadn't even excluded Cam (for the right purposes).

Yeah, that was less satisfying.

Blake sighed, or it could have just been a sharp exhale from smacking Choobo in the face, it was fifty-fifty. "You're really not helping," he groused.

Dustin waved an arm at him. Even though Blake couldn't _see_ him, it was still totally necessary, in Dustin's world. "I take offense to that statement," he complained, launching himself over the couch and kicking Kapri square in the ribs. _Haha, payback_. "I have been _perfectly_ helpful." He paused, sensing the other two had stopped fighting so that they could glare at him because no really, _he hadn't_. "Aside from the accidentally-stealing-a-weapon thing," he explained, as though this was a problem that could happen to anyone. "Other than that I have _owned_ helpfulness."

Blake moved so that he and Hunter were back-to-back, and muttered bitterly, under his breath, "You should probably return it."

"_Focus_!" Hunter barked, pushing past his still-fading energy to focus on being peeved with the other two. Blake did not get off the hook just because Dustin had led them on a very long and unpleasant journey. That did not absolve Blake of his gossiping-misdeeds.

Blake scoffed, "I love how whenever we don't talk about you, _we're_ the one's not focusing."

Above them Dustin flipped in a graceful arc, tone not-so-innocent when he offered to Blake, "I think _you're_ the one not being helpful right now."

The navy ranger began to protest, "I am the epitome-"

"I'll get you ranger!" Choobo yelled, the poor guy, just trying to fit in with the cool kids (but Hunter was totally going to murder him first chance he got; he did _not_ forget Toxipod's island).

"Yeah, yeah," Blake muttered, probably rolling his eyes. He punched Choobo right in the face, stranding the henchman on his back like a turtle. The Kelzaks swarmed over him, trying to take the monster's place in battle and inciting displeased wails from Choobo. Unfortunate really; Hunter almost had a clear shot at his neck.

The crimson ranger grit his teeth when he heard a window shatter. Out of the corner of his eye he saw another swarm of Kelzaks charge their way. He sighed and broke away from Blake, trying to cut them off before they could scatter across the room. "I am not dignifying your unhelpfulness with a response," he shouted towards Blake, and far in the kitchen he could see Dustin pump a fist into the air. "And second of all," Hunter continued, propping the abandoned coffee table up to block off the open window. "Who the hell would counsel us?"

There was a distinct silence from the other two.

Hunter did not imagine this. He was pretty sure even Marah and Kapri could have picked up on it.

"…Yeah well," Dustin eventually began, after they had exhausted their awkward silence quota for the afternoon. "That's where we hit a roadblock."

After that the answers came tumbling out; Blake picking up where the yellow ranger had left off.

"We were thinking Sensei-" Blake began, then Dustin popped in front of him, knocking Kapri out of the way but keeping his attention locked on Hunter.

"-But you guys usually ignore him when he talks about your relationship."

Blake nodded, somehow taller than before and…oh, he was standing on top of Choobo, warding off Kelzaks and occasionally whacking the henchman with his staff when he got too wiggly. "The other choice was couples' therapy; you two could've probably gotten away with that."

_Couples-_

Hunter had to stop that thought, he couldn't process it, he didn't _want_ to process it; the very idea of _thinking_ of processing the _thought_ filled him with so many uncomfortable feelings he wanted to slam his head into the wall to be done with them.

"I would stab myself in the face before dating Cam," Hunter replied, sounding far more pained than he wanted to, and Dustin did a double take.

"_Hey-_" the yellow ranger started, offended by this notion, and Blake cut him off.

"Well, you _do_ need to work on your relationship."

Hunter gave a weak shrug, still trying to erase the last five seconds of his memory. He was failing. "Our relationship is fine," he mumbled bitterly.

He did not need this shit. Talking about his and Cam's relationship was a topic he took great pains to avoid on a _good_ day; doing it now was just short of torture. Scratch that, it _was_ torture, because Hunter couldn't leave. He had to stay with these two dopes and continue making a silent tally of all the furniture/knick-knacks/keepsakes of his idol's they were _destroying_, and quite possibly go through another round of being chased by the Q-Rex, and maybe, if they were just _especially_ lucky, they would end up doing some jail time for the whole mess.

And then one of the Silver Guardians would come and punch him _right_ in the ribs. Really hard. That would just be the icing on the cake.

Hunter _hated_ this day. It had started off so deceptively well. At least, compared to yesterday. Anything would have been better than yesterday.

Excluding today, apparently.

Instincts screamed at Hunter to check his right side and there was Kapri, sword back and ready, way too close for someone of Hunter's skill level. He had about half a second before impact and he was trying to decide if he should counter or dodge (maybe pull his staff up and roll with the blow?) but then there was a blur of yellow, knocking the Kunoichi clear off her feet and at least five feet away.

Dustin looked at him, shoulders heaving from prolonged exertion. "You play mean pranks on each other that border-on-violent and call each other not-nice names." He shook his head sagely. "That is not good teammate-ship."

Blake dropped down beside the brunette (what was with those two and the ceiling?) and nodded at Hunter. "It's actually sort of a huge problem," he said and then, still turned towards Hunter, he swung his staff down with one hand and smashed it against a Kelzak's head, making a resounding _thump._

"How did we start talking about this?" Hunter complained, really just trying to ask how his life had gotten to this point.

Dustin waved at him cheerfully. "Genocide!"

"Oh, right," Hunter said, blinking. "Thank you Dustin."

Dustin gave him a thumbs up and smacked Marah with the Lion Hammer, sending a sly look towards Blake. "_Super helpful_," he whispered.

Blake, probably rolling his eyes, readjusted his grip on the Thunder staff, taking stock of their remaining adversaries. "Kiss up," he mumbled, squaring his shoulders.

It happened...Hunter wasn't sure what Blake had been going for, he honestly wasn't. He thought maybe it could have been one last shockwave or something; knock them all off their feet so the rangers could make yet another tactful retreat. But instead of establishing a centralized point and distributing the energy _out_ in waves, one of his arms got knocked to the side at the last minute, prematurely unleashing part of his attack in a specific location, as opposed to all around the room.

The end result was a hole in the ceiling.

A _hole_.

…

_IN THE CEILING_.

Hunter was not having a good day.

On the bright side, something about mad destruction of property cued the dope-sisters and company's complete withdrawal.

The bad news was Blake had blown a _hole in the ceiling_.

The three rangers stood off to the side just below Eric's newly-renovated ceiling, heads tilted as they studied Blake's work, trying to convince themselves it wasn't as bad as they thought it was.

It wasn't really working. For any of them. Not even for Dustin, and Dustin was the grand master of wishing things away.

They powered down with an assortment of sighs, moans, and generally confused sounds.

Dustin ran a hand through his sweaty hair, nose scrunched and eyes narrowed as he inspected the broken pipes and frayed wires protruding from the edge of the breach. "Well-"

"Don't say it," Blake muttered, eyes clenched shut as he tried to make this Fubar of an afternoon go away.

Dustin gave him a sympathetic look but didn't back down, eyes earnest. "_Someone_ has to."

The navy ranger tensed, eyes still closed. "Just-" he began, fists clenching. He waited a second, then sighed, relaxing his hands. "_Fine_."

Dustin nodded, then looked back at the ceiling. "I have to start over."

Blake, despite the circumstances, went ahead and rolled his eyes, motioning for Dustin to continue. "Whatever just-"

"_That can't be good_," Hunter finished off, growling between clenched teeth.

How were they-?

What were they-?

Shane was going to _kill_ him.

The curly-haired teen blinked at him, startled by the input but as always, undisturbed by Hunter's negative tone. He shrugged innocently, saying, "Nope, not good at all."

They paused for a minute, for longer than they should have, just… they were tired. At least, Hunter was tired. Blake was probably tired. And also depressed and mildly hating himself. Dustin was probably considering the advantages of having a hole in your bedroom floor. Optimist there, true to form.

Eventually Blake sighed and looked between the other two rangers. "Cheez-It?" he asked, initiating their emergency codeword that essentially translated to: _"oh-shit, let us abscond from this hell hole, post haste"_.

Hunter dropped his head, trying to decide if admitting defeat to fate would lessen the amount of misfortune that would bear down on them in the future, or if it would signal a full-on apocalypse of unpleasantries.

The blond sighed, unable to determine an answer. "Yeah."

They vacated the house in record time, deciding to regroup back at their temporary abandoned warehouse base.

It looked like he was going to have to make another "fun" call to Shane.

Hell, after all of this crap maybe he _should_ go to counseling with Cam. Sure as hell couldn't be any worse than this nonsense.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

Between Wes and Carter they had managed to create a grid of Silver Hills, establishing sections to be patrolled by small teams of rangers. All of the sectors were located in the places closest to where the morpher net's void was _now_ and where it had been. Wes found it worrisome that it had continued moving, though he supposed it made sense if whoever had kidnapped the rangers wanted to minimize the chances of them being found.

Back at Bio Labs Justin, Angela and Trip watched the monitors and directed traffic, keeping an eye out for the teams that got closest to the missing rangers and Quantum Defender. In the meantime Kai and Sheila would continue trying to make contact with the Ninja Storm team, wherever they may be.

Carter was kind enough (to the other rangers) to volunteer himself for patrolling with Wes and Eric. The most recent data had the void centering on a suburban area. It was close to where Eric lived, though they wouldn't be sure if that was merely a coincidence or vital to their search until later, when the information delay caught up.

To ere on the side of caution Wes had suggested they stop by Eric's house, just in case. And while this _did_ help out with the mission, he honestly just wanted to see whatever Leo had planted in wait for Eric. All the reds were familiar with the two's ongoing war (though Eric preferred the more direct approach when it came to hazing). The sooner they figured out what Leo had done the sooner they could get to business and not worry about an agitated Eric, who would just be wondering what surprise Leo had in store for him.

Also, it would be magnificent to watch first hand, which also might have contributed to Carter volunteering to join them. Actually, it probably wasn't, because Carter was an all-around nice guy who didn't exclude grumpy Eric's from his good-spirited nature.

Okay, just one stop and they'd be back on the road, no problems.

Worst came to worst, they would lose the time Eric spent cleaning up some mess. Maybe like a balloon filled with paint or something. Half an hour, tops.

After that it would be smooth sailing.

-:-:-:-:-:-

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-:-:-:-:-:-

Shane had taken to alternating between pacing the length of the Ops' main room and staring at Cam work from beside Tori who was, as always, the rock in this situation, providing a grounding point to the worried leader and frustrated green ranger as the morning wore on.

It was, as far as missions where he and Hunter were separated for a prolonged period of time and sickness ate at his stomach with unrelenting fury, not as horrible as it could have been. The waiting yes, that was unpleasant, it was always unpleasant when he was stuck out of the way somewhere, unable to contribute to his team, but at least the conditions that Hunter and the others were left with weren't…_completely_ unfavorable. Shane was confident that the three rangers would be fine. All they had to do was return a gun and, even considering Dustin and Hunter's track-record for complicating the simplest of tasks, Blake's solid presence should do something to counteract that un-natural phenomenon.

They were out but they were competent, strong, and adaptable. Shane knew Hunter worried over his abilities as a leader sometimes (shaken by the trust he put in Lothor, though he would never admit it, not to Shane, not to Blake) but the situation wasn't bad. They would be fine; Shane had to keep faith in them.

Though that still left him with the tedious task of waiting for someone to pull through with some answers, trying not to count the minutes that had passed since Cam's last bitter outburst or Dustin's early-morning phone call. It only left each second that much more noticeable, and Shane had to fight not to release a weary sigh. Tori had started giving him warning looks about half-way through the morning; anymore and she would alter his behavior _for_ him, changing the depressed sighs to pained moans. She would do it too. Had done it before.

God he loved Tori. He had no idea why she put up with all of them; he was just really glad she did. It was nice to have someone keep him from being too stupid (because Hunter only ever encouraged this, found it highly amusing when used to his advantage).

Shane was slumped next to Tori, her posture perfect and hands on her knees, posed for meditating but unable to completely give into it (the only sign of her anxiety) when Cam halted all action over by his computer monitor. He held still, head slowly cocking to the side as he studied the screen in front of him (confused? Did they finally break through? What had happened?). Tori and Shane shared a quick look and then crossed the room as fast as their legs would take them, each grabbing a hold onto the back of Cam's chair, leaning over his shoulder to get a better look at what had baffled the tech.

It was…okay, Shane probably should have assumed he wouldn't be able to understand what Cam was working on, but he hadn't, because- nerves right? So he and Tori were staring at these unmoving lines of numbers and words, random brackets and colons and things that hurt his head just by looking at them, and Cam immediately batted the two interlopers away from his screen, giving them both tired glares as he began to explain what was going on.

"It's Cyber Cam," he said, clicking on a few lines and tapping his mouse irritably. "He stopped responding."

"And that's-" Shane began, immediately alarmed because that was not good, that was so not-good that his previous assumptions on the situations condition were laughable, absolutely _laughable_-

Just as they were about the break into a proper panic the renegade program graced them with his presence, sounding mildly distracted. "Oh, sorry dude. Didn't mean to worry you."

Cam leaned forward, unleashing another furious string of keyboard commands, fingers flying across the keyboard as his eyes narrowed. "Have you been compromised?"

"Only in the best of ways," Cyber Cam cheerfully replied, and yeah, that didn't calm the green ranger _at all_. Tori put a comforting hand on the middle of Cam's back, trying to discretely calm away the newest onslaught of tension.

Shane grit his teeth, knowing it might be moot because if the program _had_ been compromised whoever who had done the actually _compromising_ probably wouldn't allow him to be all that forthcoming about it, but Shane had faith in Cam and his program, and decided to give talking a shot anyway. "Why did you become unresponsive?"

"Kind of busy," Cyber Cam said, sounding like he was only giving them half a mind. "Made a new friend."

"What-?" Cam began, gripping the sides of his monitor as though that were a physical manifestation of his creation. "What do you mean-?"

"Dude," the program interrupted, sounding just a bit…dreamy? "I just have to say- life complete. At this exact moment I am the happiest collection of ones and zeros the world has ever known."

"Cyber Cam-" the green ranger started, warning in his voice as he picked up with his typing duties, glaring at his keyboard furiously.

"Look, I'll be back with you guys in a few. In the meantime…" If Cyber Cam were projecting himself there would no doubt be a devil-may-care smile on his face, eyes dancing at the idea of a new adventure, a new game to play, a new project to tackle. "I've got to do some very important uh…data verification." And there the smile would have widened, Cyber Cam looking beyond them, eager for the task ahead. "Yep, definitely gotta get to that."

And with that he was gone, off the line, and no amount of effort or cursing from his creator could reestablish a connection with the program.

Yeah…whatever Shane had said about the situation being not so bad?

He was a liar.

He was the lying-est liar who ever did lie.

* * *

><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

* * *

><p>Endnotes:<p>

Vamps gave me a note that was so funny I decided it would be a crime not to share it. She was commenting on Shane's perception of Blake's solid presence counteracting the un-natural Hunter/Dustin phenomenon.

Her words were, to quote: "It's funny, 'cos said solid presence has just blown a hole in Eric's ceiling *sniggers*"

And that hadn't even _dawned_ on me when I wrote it. Brilliance!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter! *Cascade of sparkly hearts in your general direction*. Heaven's Archer and weathergirl17248, that be you two : )

So…yeah. Yeah. That's all I've got really. Still having fun with the Dustin/Hunter/Blake trio. Still setting up Eric for misfortune. And Cyber Cam for un-misfortune, if you know what I mean *wink* *wink*

Until next time


	8. Simple Joys

Chapter 8

Simple Joys

I don't own Pippen

Takes place after "Boxing Bopp a Roo"

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><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

* * *

><p>"This is terrible."<p>

Leave it to Hunter to find _just_ the right words to describe what they were watching. Tori couldn't argue though; it was terrible.

"It could be worse," Shane offered, popping another piece of popcorn into his mouth.

The aqua ranger took her eyes off the program in time to see Hunter scrunch his nose in distaste.

"No, I don't think it could," he argued before shoving a handful of popcorn into his mouth. Tori elected not to comment on their never-ending stomachs; they would simply swear that they needed it because they were growing boys. It was the same argument they used when they eliminated the pizza.

Dustin waved for no particular reason.

"It could be in like, Dutch dude," he said, pulling his eyes away from the screen long enough to make a serious face at Hunter. "Then you wouldn't be able to understand them."

Tori cringed. That _would_ be worse.

"Cam might," Blake suggested, shifting his arm again. He'd been doing this for the past half hour in an attempt to sneak it over Tori's shoulder. He thought she hadn't noticed. Apparently the words "secret ninja training" meant nothing to him.

Still, she wished he would just hurry up.

Cam sighed. "I don't know Dutch."

"But you could build something to _translate_ Dutch," Hunter pointed out around another mouthful of popcorn.

Blake crept his arm closer. "Ten bucks says he already has something built."

Tori couldn't see it, but she bet Cam was rolling his eyes.

"I haven't," the tech professed stoically. Hunter took another glance at Blake's arm progress and made an exasperated face. Tori allowed herself a small smile.

This had been a good idea.

"Ohh!" Dustin suddenly exclaimed, raising his hand and looking back at them. "Can I take that bet?"

Blake looked at him quizzically. "He already answered."

And therefore the bet couldn't be applied, but that wasn't always how things worked out in Dustin's head.

The yellow ranger set his arm down dejectedly. "So…I don't get ten bucks?" He looked at Shane and Cam for confirmation.

"No Dustin," Shane answered, looking distinctly amused.

"Shoot," Dustin murmured sadly, before slumping against Cam with a dramatic sigh. To his credit Cam didn't push the brunette off; he simply readjusted his shoulders to accommodate the yellow ranger.

It was cute to see them get along so well. That had been happening more and more lately. At first Tori had chalked it up to Dustin just being himself but Cam kept shooting the earth ninja these looks. She couldn't describe them, but it looked like there was something Cam was trying to figure out. She would keep an eye on that, maybe talk to him about it later.

"I have," Cam continued. "However, written a program to translate foreign languages."

Hunter popped another piece of popcorn into the air, catching it in his mouth.

"How is that not the same thing as building?" he asked, chewing away his victory.

Shane smirked and mimicked his actions with two pieces.

Tori groaned, they better not start _that_ nonsense again.

The look on Cam's face must have said the same thing because both red rangers stopped and gave abashed looks while holding their hands up in surrender.

The tech sighed. "It's different."

Dustin perked back up. "Can I get ten bucks _now_?"

He looked hopefully between Blake and Hunter.

"You never took the bet!" Blake exclaimed. Dustin opened his mouth and the thunder brother clarified, "_Before_."

"That's a no," Shane replied, reaching over Cam to ruffle Dustin's hair. The other teen sighed in fake despair and went back to leaning against Cam, reaching over to grab a handful of popcorn out of his bowl. Cam tensed for a second before finally relaxing. Shane, despite his casual look, caught this action, and narrowed his eyes suspiciously before turning back to the screen. He brought his right elbow up and rested it on Cam's shoulder, leaning against him lightly. Cam tensed again, but eventually relaxed. Dustin didn't notice the transaction; he was too busy toying with the hem of his sleeve.

Yes, there was definitely something there.

Tori decided to worry about it later; right now they were celebrating their many successes. Not only had Hunter and Shane managed to win Total Trek (which was a blessing because, if they hadn't worked together, they would both be gravely injured right now) but they were celebrating the fact that they were _finally_ a team.

Cam had yet to explain where he sprained his ankle. Tori was still waiting for the opportune moment to ask him.

In order to celebrate fully, Dustin had suggested they get together and watch the brand new Power Rangers TV show, "Power Rangers Alpha Squadron", that happened to be premiering Monday night. Sure it was a kid's show, but they had all decided they needed a good laugh and went along with it. As soon as the guys' shifts ended at Storm Chargers they all met up at Ninja Ops, where Cam introduced them (with great prodding) to a "living room" that none of them had known existed. Cam had explained that he had withheld the knowledge out of the fear that, if they had known about it, they would never leave which was…fair enough.

It wasn't a big room, but it was clean, had a large TV with cable hookup and a big comfy couch that she, Blake, and Hunter currently occupied. Dustin, Cam, and Shane had opted to take the floor, leaning their backs against the foot of the couch. It was their first time to hang out as a real team.

And it was pretty amazing.

Terrible programming not included.

"I think it would be better if it was in Dutch," Hunter suddenly announced, waving his arm with a flourish, spilling some popcorn onto Shane. The red ranger glared at the blond for a second before Dustin reached over and grabbed the stray morsels, happily popping them into his mouth. With that, Shane relaxed and went back to staring at the TV, where brightly colored heroes were running around fighting…green things. Tori wasn't sure what they were; she hadn't really been paying attention.

"You're right bro," Blake replied, missing the popcorn event. "It's not like they're saying anything useful."

Hunter nodded gravely. "I think understanding the dialogue has made me dumber."

_Ain't that the truth._

"It's the writer's fault," Cam said, frowning as Dustin reached over him again for the popcorn. The tech sighed and lifted his arm, draping it over the other teen's shoulders, allowing the Dustin to scoot closer and have easier popcorn access.

Tori couldn't help but glare at his head. _He_ could do it in less than thirty minutes, so what was taking Blake so long? She looked at Hunter desperately, mentally begging him to help. He responded with a roll of his eyes and unceremoniously shoved his brother into her. Before the navy ranger could react Tori resituated herself into his side. She wished she could see his face; she bet it read something along the lines of _"Wha…?"_

Boys.

"I wasn't blaming the actors," Blake admitted, once he caught up to what had happened.

"They could all be backwards," Dustin suggested suddenly and stopped, not bothering to explain any further. Tori, Cam, and Shane were unaffected (being used to similar outbursts) but the looks on Hunter and Blake's faces were priceless. Tori would have to ask Cam to get a screen shot of it from the security footage.

Hunter blinked in confusion before finally asking, "What?"

Dustin took his cue to continue.

"Like, they could always have their backs to the camera. That would totally be worse," he explained, making a turning motion with his hands. "Who wants to talk to someone's back?" he asked, looking back up at Hunter until a flash of movement on the screen caught his eye and he went back to being glued to it. At least one person liked this show.

It was Cam who broke the odd moment of silence.

"I always appreciate a forward-speaking companion."

Dustin nodded in satisfaction.

"Cam agrees with me," he cheered, pumping his fist into the air. "I win."

"In what way-?" Hunter started to ask but was cut off with a wave of Dustin's hand.

"Those are the rules," the yellow ranger reported in all seriousness. Shane muffled a snicker into his fist and Tori pressed the heel of her hand into her mouth. She wanted to hear how this played out.

"What rules?" Hunter asked, legitimately wondering what he had missed out on.

"_The _rules," Dustin declared, gesturing broadly with his free hand.

Blake looked on in amusement.

"The rules you just made up," Hunter replied, unimpressed after having finally caught on.

Tori allowed a giggle to escape.

Dustin wilted. "Maybe…kind of…"

He trailed off before pressing his head against Cam's shoulder, mumbling, "…yes."

Before Hunter could make any kind of witty remark, Shane cut in, "I agree with Dustin."

The yellow ranger instantly brightened up, reaching over to high five his best friend.

"See, majority of the team agrees with me. I win," he gushed happily before pointing to himself proudly. Tentatively, Cam offered up his hand and Dustin high fived him too.

Shane tensed briefly.

It was some of the weirdest causes and effects Tori had ever witnessed. However Cam had noticed this one, and offered his hand out to Shane as well, who accepted the action easily. The tan teen hesitated for a moment before he carefully put his arm around Cam as well, his hand trailing off behind the back of Dustin's head. Tori wondered if anyone else was seeing this. If the Thunder rangers noticed, they didn't care.

"There's _nothing_ to win," Hunter insisted before reaching for another handful of popcorn, only to discover his bowl was empty. He shrugged and reached over to grab some from Blake who promptly smacked his hand away. Hunter responded by smacking the back of his brother's head and grabbing some popcorn anyway.

"Majority is more than half," Cam pointed out calmly, shaking his head at the antics of the characters on the screen.

Tori noted that Shane was doing the exact same thing.

"I also side with Dustin," Blake replied jokingly, tossing a kernel at Hunter's head.

His brother swatted at him, annoyed.

"Now you're just trying to make me mad," the blond mock-growled, flicking the kernel back at Blake.

If they started a kernel fight, Tori was ducking behind the couch. She didn't care how comfortable she was, she was not taking another shower today.

Blake caught her silent communication and flicked the kernel over the edge of the couch.

"Go with the flow bro, just go with the flow." He emphasized this by patting Hunter's arm in a consoling fashion. The crimson ranger frowned and knocked his hand away.

"Face it," Shane began. "Our Kool Aid's tasty."

_Yeah Hunter, you know you love us._

He acted tough, but Tori could tell he really appreciated having a team to count on.

"We have Kool Aid?" Dustin asked curiously, turning his head back and forth to look for the missing beverage.

"Whatever," Hunter mumbled, blowing it off. "_Uhh_…this show is awful."

And here they were, back at the beginning.

Blake nodded in agreement, talking around a mouthful of popcorn. "Even for a kid's show this is pretty bad. Shouldn't they be trying harder?"

Cam shook his head and went back to watching Dustin's search along with Shane. "They're not trying to educate; they only want the ratings, which means they have to cater to outlandishly small attention spans."

Tori nodded, it made sense.

"Seriously, where is the Kool Aid?" Dustin asked, sounding a little aggravated. He ran a hand through his curls absently, tapping Shane's hand. He looked around, startled to see what he had touched and poked it.

Shane wiggled his fingers in response.

"Same thing," the red ranger replied, completely ignoring Dustin's actions. Tori wiggled her fingers at the air ninja despite the fact he couldn't see it, earning a snort from Blake.

"They're probably both awful," Blake concluded, wiggling his fingers at her. Hunter took the opportunity to steal some more of their popcorn. When Blake turned to frown at him the older Braldey simply wiggled his fingers in return.

To think last week he wouldn't even _joke_ with them.

This was better.

"There isn't any Kool Aid," Cam informed Dustin quietly, pulling the brunette's attention away from Shane's hand.

The yellow ranger pouted (for lack of better word) and slumped against him.

"Aw man, that stuff is so _good_," he complained, but not wholeheartedly, eyes on the screen but still messing with Shane's hand.

Cam tilted his head at the comment. "Its glorified sugar water."

Dustin spared the tech a glance, replying, "Glorified sugar water with _color_."

"Pardon my offense," Cam replied, shaking his head.

Dustin nodded seriously. "You are pardoned," he declared solemnly, patting the tech's chest before grabbing some more popcorn.

"You are weird," Blake decreed, and was immediately assaulted from all sides. Tori and Hunter smacked him on the head while Shane and Cam took the chance to hurl popcorn kernels at him. The navy ranger pulled his free hand up in an attempt to block the attacks and sputtered, "Hey-_ey_, don't waste the popcorn!"

Dustin, having missed his defense, looked back at that call in time to see no popcorn in action, so he grabbed a piece from Cam's bowl and hurled it at Blake for good measure, smiling when it made contact with the other teen's face. Blake frowned and Tori rubbed the side of his head comfortingly, but didn't make any attempt to hide her smirk. He had asked for it.

"Keep going," Hunter urged. "It's more entertaining than this nonsense."

"It's not that bad!" Dustin insisted, making a face at the blond before returning to being glued to the show.

"What part about it is good?" Blake asked, scrunching his nose before going back to nursing his popcorn, playfully pulling the bowl away from Hunter when he moved to grab for more.

He offered the bowl back after receiving a hearty glare.

"…their swords are nice," Dustin admitted after thinking about it. He then proceeded to swing his right hand about as though he were wielding an invisible sword, occasionally making _shing_ sounds. Hunter, having completely given up on the show by now, followed his movements with intense fascination.

"Ours are better," Shane grumbled, sparing the TV a brief glance before joining Dustin's growing audience.

"Thank you," Cam murmured, mostly to himself, but the quick look Shane gave him said he heard it.

"And I like his pants," Dustin announced, ending his fight by gesturing repeatedly at the character on the screen. Tori was grateful no one bothered pointing out that all the character's pants were the same (being that they were uniforms); the only difference was that the particular set he was pointing to belonged to the red ranger. The smug look on Shane's face announced that he had noticed that as well.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Hunter shared his feeling.

"Hooray pants," Blake mumbled sarcastically, squeezing Tori's arm.

Feeling bold, she rested her head against his shoulder.

Hunter waved his arm again, preempting the next flaw he discovered. "What's with this ten minutes to morph thing? Why doesn't the bad guy just shoot them while they're doing that?"

"Why don't Lothor's goons ever do that to us?" Tori responded, secretly wondering the same thing herself.

"We're too fast," Blake answered. "We take like, five seconds max."

"Maybe they're stunned by our awesomeness," Dustin suggested, flourishing his napkin. "_And_ our good looks."

Cam, to her surprise, nodded in agreement. "Which is a completely separate thing from our awesomeness."

"Completely," the yellow ranger confirmed, shaking his head in an attempt to flip his hair. After a few tries he grabbed the side of his head, steadying it. Tori reached forward and patted him comfortingly.

"How did this show get so many seasons?" Shane asked, changing the subject. "They don't know the first thing about _real_ rangering."

"That would be why it's fiction," Cam marveled dryly, reaching up to jostle Dustin's hair. The yellow ranger hummed in appreciation.

"I thought it was funny," the brunette announced, blinking at Cam innocently when he stopped. With a sigh, the tech resumed his petting.

Tori smiled at the exchange. "I think that part's supposed to be dramatic."

"No way dude," Dustin replied, practically purring.

"His friends just got shot," Blake offered, pointing to the screen where the civilians were whimpering on the ground. In the ranger's defense, they really shouldn't have been there in the first place.

"But… they're all _flaily_." Dustin emphasized this by waving his outside arm drunkenly. He stopped quickly when he noticed Cam had halted his ministrations and rested his head back against the tech's shoulder so they could be resumed.

Forget pictures; Tori would have to steal the security footage.

Hunter's arm was brought up once more.

"No one acts like this!" he exclaimed, glaring at the people on the screen. "A piece of cardboard would be more relatable than these characters."

"A piece of cardboard would probably fight better too," Blake added, cringing as the good guys were thrown around yet again. It was almost pathetic how terrible they were. At least she, Shane, and Dustin had been able to fight. Not well, but they were miles ahead of these guys.

The navy ranger exhaled loudly. "Worst. Show. Ever."

Dustin tensed at Blake's words and slowly drew his legs up to his chest, pushing his head harder against Cam. He wouldn't say it (because that wasn't his way) but all the insulting of the show felt like a personal attack on him because it had been his idea in the first place.

Unfortunately, Blake and Hunter didn't know that yet.

Before Toir could assure Dustin this was not the case, Shane broke in loudly, proclaiming, "I like it."

He smiled brightly at Dustin when the yellow ranger looked at him in question, but the action was missed as Shane was too busy staring down the navy ranger.

For the most part, Blake just looked baffled until Tori poked him in the side, _hard.__ Sufficiently motivated, he_ replied, "…me too."

Dustin looked back at Blake, completely bewildered. "You just said-"

"I'm a liar," Blake declared, sounding sincere.

After a pause Hunter added, "…it could be worse."

Dustin cheered up immediately. "Everyone agrees with me!"

Blake frowned. "Tori hasn't-"

"I agree."

Dustin pumped his fist into the air. "I win!"

"There's nothing _to_ win!" Blake said, exasperated.

A mischievous smile lit Shane's face. "You could always fix that," he said, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.

"…What did I just get roped into?" the navy ranger asked after some hesitation.

"Ice cream run," Shane explained, earning a whoop from Dustin.

Blake tried to figure out how those two things connected. "What?"

"I support this decision," Cam said, watching, amused, as Dustin did a happy dance.

Hunter pumped his fist as well. "Seconded."

Blake glared at his brother. "Traitor."

Hunter smirked at him happily. "Just make sure you get chocolate."

"And strawberry!" Dustin added, halting his dance.

Blake made a face. "_Ech_, strawberry."

This did not sit well with Dustin.

"Don't rag on the berry man!" he urged, jumping up so he could look the navy ranger in the eye. "The berry'll take you down," he finished, squinting his eyes at the thunder ranger ridiculously in an attempt convey his point.

"…sure," Blake said when it became apparent Dustin wasn't going to move until he replied.

Satisfied with his response, the other ranger smiled brightly and moved to sit back down, ducking back under Cam's arm.

Blake turned to look at Tori. "You want anything special?"

The aqua ranger tried not to glow under the attention.

"Naw, I'm okay," she ensured, squeezing his hand for added effect.

Shane made a sound of distaste. "Less with the couple stuff, more with the ice cream stuff."

"Off with you!" Hunter added, waving his brother away.

Blake gave Tori one last smile before grumbling, "I'm going, I'm going," and quickly exiting the room.

With a pleased smile, Shane leaned back against the couch, content. "Team bonding, there's nothing like it."

"He's gonna miss the end," Dustin murmured, voice downtrodden. He was actually sad about this.

Hunter stiffened and sent questioning looks between his watch and the TV. "It isn't over yet?"

"Hour long premier," Cam replied, plopping his now empty popcorn bowl onto the coffee table.

Shane grinned at the blond unapologetically.

Defeated, Hunter slumped against the couch. "Oh joy."

"It could get better," Dustin offered, leaning over Cam to look the blond ranger in the eye. Cam tensed again, turning his head to the left to get more distance. Shane, seeing his "dilemma", if it could be called that, reached over and gently pushed Dustin back into his spot. The yellow ranger gave Shane an odd look but complied.

Maybe Cam just wasn't used to Dustin's excessive touching. But, if Shane knew that, why was he adding to the problem?

It didn't make sense.

There was a large arm gesture from Hunter.

"And what's with the super modes on the first episode?" he groused, pointing to the zord combat. "It's the first episode; you've got to earn that stuff."

"They should have made them slay a dragon or something," Dustin mused, an almost dreamy hint to his tone.

He _would_ be the only one excited by that.

"Don't say that," Tori frowned. "It'll jinx us."

She did _not_ want to deal with a dragon anytime soon.

"Why?" Dustin asked innocently. "It would be _awesome_ to fight a dragon."

The brunette concluded this by throwing several jabs, ducking around left and right.

Of course he would box the dragon.

Cam shook his head fondly. "You say that _now_."

You know what, this dragon thing was probably going to happen just because of this conversation.

"Cam downloaded our sword upgrades," Shane reminded, pointing at Tori knowingly.

The water ninja frowned and resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him. "Not during our first fight."

The other teen shrugged. "It was close."

During the run of their conversation Dustin had nudged Cam's wrapped foot, leaning in close to his ear to whispered, "Do you need more ice?"

Cam shook his head without looking at him before replying, "It's fine Dustin."

But being that this was Ninja Ops and it was filled with, you know, _ninjas_, everyone else in the room had heard the exchange. Tori wasn't sure how everyone else felt about it, but she saw this as an opportunity to get some answers.

Hunter, being a great mind that thought alike, beat her to it.

"How'd you get that anyway?" he asked, motioning to Cam's injured foot.

Cam shrugged. "I fell."

_Way to be vague Cam__._

Hunter didn't let up. "Where?"

"In a place of falling," Cam replied nonchalantly, trying his best to sound uninterested.

Dustin, Tori noted, had stilled almost as soon as the conversation had began and was currently willing himself into a stone-like state. Either he wanted to disappear, or he was trying to listen better.

Or it was both.

Tori pressed the matter anyway.

"You're not team bonding," she joked, wagging her finger at Cam.

"Lay off guys; if he doesn't want to talk about it, he doesn't have to talk about it," Shane defended, choosing to break his silence.

_So that's why he hasn't said anything._

"Says the guy who knows," Tori said, hiding her frustration at being left out. She was the third musketeer; she should know these things.

"He knows?" Hunter asked, pointing at the ranger in question.

Tori smiled but continued, cutting to the chase. "Your skateboarding thing failed didn't it?"

"What skateboarding thing?" Hunter asked, searching for anybody who was willing to answer.

"Yes," Cam replied in monotone. "It failed; let's move on."

During the course of his reply, the tech ruffled Dustin's hair again but received no reaction.

Hunter decided to try Tori once more. "Did he try to skateboard?"

Tori nodded. "So the rumors say."

"Dude-" Hunter started, leaning forward so he could see Cam's face.

"What's done is done," Cam interrupted, pulling his arm away from Dustin. "Who wants more popcorn?"

"Me!" Dustin eagerly took the distraction and jumped to his feet, helping the tech up before collecting all of the empty bowls. In record time they had vacated the room.

"Cam tried to skateboard?" Hunter asked again, looking at Shane.

The red ranger shrugged. "He wasn't that bad, actually. He just took it too fast."

_He __**wasn't**__ that bad?_

When Tori had told Shane about Dustin's plan the skater had been livid, yelling about how terrible and irresponsible the idea had been just before he stormed off and now he was actually _defending_ them?

_It looked like __someone _didn't feel like sharing with the class.

"Where did he get that idea in the first place?" Tori asked for Hunter's sake, attempting to get the other blond in the loop.

"Dustin, probably," Shane replied, sinking into the side of the couch.

Hunter stared at the door thoughtfully.

"What's going on with them?" he asked suddenly, addressing what had been on Tori's mind the entire evening.

Shane furrowed his brows in confusion, jolted by the sudden change in subject. "What?"

"Them," Hunter repeated, indicated where Dustin and Cam had been seated.

The red ranger nodded, finally catching on to who Hunter was addressing. "Nothing."

The crimson ranger stared at him disbelievingly. "Sure."

"Seriously dude," Shane said. "It's nothing."

The blond teen wasn't buying it, and to be honest, neither was Tori. "So you guys are normally this clingy?"

"We're a team," Shane replied, frowning at what Hunter was implying.

"Look, I don't judge-" the crimson ranger began, holding his hands up in surrender, but Shane cut him off.

"What _are_ you saying?" he asked, looking legitimately confused.

Okay, so maybe Shane hadn't caught on.

"We're a team now right?" Hunter explained. "That means you can trust us."

The air ninja tensed but didn't spill. "I know that."

"We've got your back," Tori added, hoping that Shane would share what was on his mind.

"Yeah," he murmured. "I got that too."

Hunter shared a look with Tori before asking one last time, "So…nothing?"

"Nope," came the solid answer.

The crimson ranger stared at Shane blankly, no emotions on his face before he finally shrugged and said, "Okay."

…_What?_

That was it? They weren't going to try to dig for more? Okay, Hunter had done most of the digging, but Tori wanted to be on the in for this one and-

"Trade," Hunter declared, hopping up from the couch.

Shane looked at him dumbly. "What?"

"Couch," Hunter continued like it was the plainest thing in the world. "You can take it."

Shane began to shake his head. "I don't want-"

"I insist," the other ranger interrupted, making a sweeping gesture with his arm to offer his spot.

Shane, at a loss for what to do, gave in and took his seat. "…Okay."

Hunter smiled triumphantly and took the red ranger's old spot just as Cam and Dustin reentered the room, bowls refilled with popcorn. They both gave confused looks but Cam shrugged it off first, resuming his old position before redistributing the bowls. Dustin, on the other hand, looked torn between sitting by Cam or sitting by Shane. Tori spared the yellow ranger his agony by glaring him into submission (she loved Dustin but Blake was staying by her). He smiled; sent Shane and apologetic look, and took his original seat, leaning against Cam.

Tori had thought the upset was over, but Hunter had other ideas as he mimicked Shane's old position to a T and draped his arm around Cam, casually eating a handful of popcorn. Unlike the first time, Dustin immediately recognized the new hand and poked it, receiving a wiggle of fingers in return.

Shane spent the rest of the even glaring at the back of the crimson ranger's head.

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><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

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><p>Endnotes:<p>

Note: We did this one really early in the morning. Which is why these endnotes are kind of fail.

**On proper wording:**

Muse: _"…Blake replied, missing the popcorn fiasco"_

*thinks* "It's silent right? Then it would be less of a fiasco and more of an event. It would be a fiasco if like…popcorn went down his pants or something."

**Muse Misreads:**

Muse: Blake: _"_**_Ech_**_, strawberry."_

*thoughtful* "…for some odd reason I read that as F#ck strawberry. Like, eff that, strawberry can go to hell!"

**Endnotes with** **Rogue**:

**On sneaky semicolons:**

Me: "I'm not sure how that semicolon got there." *thinks* "Must be a ninja."

Rogue: "Given the story content, I half want to allow it just because it earned its place."

Me: "Damn straight it has."

Because you know, _ninjas_

**On "titled" vs "tilted":**

Rogue: "I think you meant 'tilted his head', not 'titled'."

Me: "...he _could_ have titled his head. Many great things." *idea* "Like, the think tank."

*excited* "See, _see_, it totally wasn't a screw up."

Rogue: *pleased* "I believe you, did he use permanent marker?"

Me: "Like a _boss_."

Because that's what Cam _does_.

"The other" count (chapter): 3

"The other" count (cumulative): 12

Why is this chapter still here? Because it's one of my favorites.

Until next time.


	9. Let's go to the Movies

Chapter 9

Let's go to the Movies

I don't own Annie, the movie

Takes place before "Pork Chopped"

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><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

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><p>Somehow TV night had designated itself to be the greatest rehearsal of absolute disgust and detestation of Cam's very being to date. Though he loathed admitting it, it was becoming gradually harder to simply <em>not<em> think about it. It was an elephant, gargantuan and unpleasant, standing resolutely in the middle of his mind and it wasn't going to leave any time soon. For the moment he had settled for focusing on the wall next to it, but that would only last for so long.

Cam was currently lamenting his status while observing Dustin and Shane clean up the mess that had been created during movie night. Dustin had stayed after the others had trickled away, insisting Cam shouldn't have to do any kind of cleaning on his ankle (remnants of guilt no doubt) and Shane, being Dustin's shadow, had moved to help as well. Whether the skater was speeding or hindering the process was still up in the air.

Cam had been positioned by the other rangers on a recliner they had neglected to use earlier, allowing him a clear view of Dustin and Shane combing the couch area for stray popcorn. He had informed them that he had vacuums readily available for such purposes, but Dustin was adamant on doing it this way and Shane, not particularly caring either way, naturally agreed with Dustin.

To be honest, Cam couldn't help but feel a little at odds with Shane. There was never any question when it came to Tori or Dustin because things had simply fallen into place with them, but with the red ranger it had always been different. Cam supposed that the reason for this was because, in a way, they were both in charge of the team. Separate aspects, but the power was still there. Shane was the leader when they were in the field and maintained them emotionally off of it, but Cam took care of all things technical. Therefore they couldn't just fall into a leader-subordinate relationship (it wasn't a big difference with the others but that didn't exclude it from existence altogether) because it simply didn't fit what they had.

They respected each other, in and out of combat, but when it came to simply "hanging out", things remained incredibly awkward.

If Cam had to pick a reason as to why, he would have to say that they weren't comfortable with the idea of being…vulnerable around each other. It wasn't that they feared appearing weak, and it wasn't pride (at least in his case, he couldn't speak for Shane), it was just their way of supporting each other, respecting each other. They put on their best front because the other teen always did so. As a result, it was difficult to be completely at ease. Cam was still working on fixing this problem.

Shane seemed to be aware of it as well, and had decided to address it in the manner _he_ was most comfortable with.

And this was how Cam came to be physically tag-teamed from both sides.

It almost came as a relief when Shane and Hunter switched places; even when the crimson ranger had opted to get in on the "team bonding" it still hadn't been as aggravating/enjoyable (enjoyable, the very thought made Cam shudder with despair) as it had been with Shane.

Or Dustin.

Cam was currently chalking that up to not knowing the crimson ranger as well. Then, of course, it was inferred that his feelings were only natural and par for the course, which, if he was going to be honest, they weren't.

_Stop thinking about it._

Right. What was going on?

Cleaning.

Cam brought his focus back to the remaining guests.

Dustin was on his hands and knees by the coffee table, face close to the ground as he searched intently for his prey, talking adamantly.

"We should watch next week's episode together too," he suggested, snatching up a kernal in triumph and tossing it into a nearby bowl. "Oh, and the week after that," he added, popping his head up and looking between Cam and Shane excitedly. "We could make it a tradition!"

"You don't even have to watch the show," Dustin continued. "We can just be together."

"Team bonding every week," Shane summarized, glancing sideways at Dustin with fondness. Cam hadn't studied the red ranger as closely as he should have, but he was beginning to get the feeling that look was reserved for Dustin.

**_Stop thinking about it._**

Dustin nodded excitedly, making a broad motion with his arm that nearly knocked over his popcorn bowl.

"Team bonding every week!" Dustin echoed, volume multiplied. "Guaranteed," he added, before sitting back happily. He blinked before he remembered he had a bigger audience and turned, looking at Cam expectantly.

"The idea has promise," the tech admitted, nodding slowly.

That was all Dustin needed.

"Awesome! I'll tell Tori and Blake," he exclaimed before picking up the remaining popcorn pieces that were on the ground. "You can get Hunter," he continued, gesturing loosely to Shane while continuing his work.

_Interesting_.

Dustin appeared to be subtlety encouraging Shane and Hunter's new budding friendship, egging them into more one-on-one interaction with each other. The earth ninja was far from the smartest guy on the team, but he was certainly becoming by far one of the craftiest. It was only a greater credit to the brunette that he wasn't aware that he was doing it. Well, it was either that or the yellow ranger was avoiding Hunter, but that option didn't add up seeing as nothing detrimental had happened to their relationship. At least, nothing that Cam had picked up on.

Still…

He shared a look with Shane, the red ranger sensing his doubts. Cam shook his head in return; it wasn't something they needed to address right now.

Shane nodded, indicating he understood, before focusing his attention back on Dustin. "Okay."

Dustin smiled at both of them happily and went back to looking over the living room. There wasn't a lot left to do; with all the popcorn cleaned up Cam just needed to move all the bowls and cups into the kitchen for washing. He would do the dishes tomorrow.

"It's late," Cam said, motioning to the clock. "I can finish this up."

Dustin was across the room in a second, intercepting the tech's hand before he had reached for his crutches.

"No way dude," the other teen said resolutely, shaking his head.

Shane smiled calmly, but his eyes were stubborn. "Really Cam, we're almost done."

_And that's why I can finish up._

Cam wasn't incapable of doing simple tasks, he wasn't going to break. Not anymore than he already had, at least.

He frowned and tried to delicately shake Dustin's hand off.

"Won't your parents get worried?" he asked. His effort to extricate his hand was met with a small glare, and Dustin squeezed his hand a little harder.

Shane shrugged and began piling up the bowls. "Mine think I'm studying at Dustin's"

"My mom's working late," Dustin added, gently pulling Cam's crutches out of reach with an apologetic look on his face.

Cam resisted the urge to glare when he realized he had processed such information before.

When was it?

"She was working late Friday too," he stated, and immediately regretted it. That hadn't been the way he wanted to start this conversation.

Dustin tensed and released Cam's hand, looking at the floor with a smile plastered on his face that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Well, she works late a lot," he mumbled. He leaned the crutches back against Cam's chair and quickly moved about the room gathering cups. "She's a hard working lady," Dustin continued, this time meeting both of their eyes.

Were it not for the earlier lapse in demeanor, Cam would say the trailing comment was delivered in Dustin's usual cheerful fashion. However, he and Shane knew better. But this wasn't the time to address that.

Cam chose his words carefully.

"I didn't say she wasn't," he replied in a calm voice, not softer since Dustin would notice if Cam was placating him. The tech had to fight to not hold his hands up; it was a calming gesture that the yellow ranger was well aware of, and Cam didn't want him to feel that they _needed _him…calm?

When did everything get so confusing?

In the precious seconds Cam was over-analyzing the situation, some of the tension left Dustin's shoulders and his smile became more genuine, feeling, no doubt (as Cam and Shane did) as though he had dodged the bullet. Dustin grabbed the bowls out of Shane's hand.

"I'll go wash these," the yellow ranger declared brightly before ducking out of the room with a little more speed than necessary.

Cam let out a sigh and rubbed the side of his head, cursing himself for the slip up. Dustin's family (aside from his sister) was not a subject the other teen spoke much of and, while Cam had never witnessed any obvious signs of abuse, he couldn't help but feel there was something wrong with Dustin's home situation. He didn't have enough data for to get a concrete answer, but he had a strong theory. Until he was sure though, he had settled for giving the yellow ranger all the support he needed.

He couldn't completely drown out the nagging voice in the back of his mind that told Cam he secretly loved it.

He was terrible.

"You worried?"

The sound of Shane's voice brought the tech out of his thoughts, and he glanced up to see the red ranger emulating his concern. Of course Shane would have noticed. Cam would have prodded him for answers if Dustin's defensive reaction had been aimed solely at himself. However, Dustin was avoiding both of them, meaning that Shane was as much in the dark as Cam was.

"Yes," he replied, searching the red ranger for answers.

Realization lit up Shane's eyes and the other teen shook his head.

"Me too," he admitted.

So they both had nothing. Cam shook off his frustration.

"I'll keep an eye on it."

It was an unnecessary comment, but it made him feel better.

"Okay."

And that, for now, was the end of that.

Shane sat down, electing to sit on the side of the couch that was closest to Cam. He ran a hand through his hair, gathering his thoughts, before deciding to break the silence. "I was thinking…"

"What?" Cam interrupted.

Shane gave Cam a startled look as though he hadn't expected it (which was bubkis (Dustin's word), because he had been baiting Cam), before allowing a small smile to spread over his face.

The tech fidgeted uncomfortably.

"You weren't that bad," Shane answered, reaching his arms up and stretching before plopping back against the couch.

Unfortunately Cam missed the actions because his mind pretty much froze at Shane's comment.

_What._

_The._

_Hell?_

Cam was ashamed to say that his immediate thoughts on _that_ particular statement were naive and immature (which was stupid because nothing had _happened_ to warrant them to be as such), adequate for an average high schooler but never for someone of his standings and his cursed figurative elephant had gone from simply standing in the room to doing an elaborate fan dance with rave lights a blazing.

Being that Cam had no previous experience like this to draw a response from, he settled for just asking for the clarification he needed and hoped his face didn't catch on fire in the meantime.

"…What?" he asked, feeling proud that he had managed to keep his voice steady.

Luckily, Shane had tried to be nonchalant about this conversation (a curse that Hunter had started) and had taken to staring at the coffee table in wait of his response and had missed Cam's episode of panic.

"At the park," he clarified, looking back at Cam. "With a little practice you could really shred it."

It still took the tech a few seconds to figure out what Shane meant. He must have been blinking stupidly because the air ninja decided to take pity on him and motioned to his foot.

Oh…right, the whole skateboard thing.

Cam took a breath and pushed his glasses back up his nose.

"I only did that as an experiment," he said calmly, feeling a bit like his old self.

Shane raised an eyebrow at him but continued, "What do you do to relax?"

Why did people find that _so_ important? Did they ever stop to think that Cam might _enjoy_ doing his work?

Okay, so he didn't always, but someone had to do it and he didn't have time for distractions.

Like elephants.

_Damn it_.

"You know," Cam began, ignoring his internal bout. "Dustin's asked me the same question."

_So maybe you should shut up._

Shane frowned as though Cam had voiced that thought aloud and wagged a finger at him. "You're avoiding the question."

**_You're_**_ avoiding the question._

Now he was just being petty.

"I'm busy," Cam insisted tersely, grabbing his crutches.

He would go help Dustin in the kitchen, speed up the process so he could have some time to think.

"I know," Shane coaxed, not bothering to hide _his_ placating. "But everyone needs a little stress release." He caught Cam's intent to get up and quickly went into action, gently tugging his crutches away (despite popular belief Cam _could_ move without those) and sat down on the armrest of the chair, throwing an arm around Cam's shoulder and more or less pinning him in place. The tech knew at least three ways to get out of the hold easily, but decided that such tactics would only serve to alienate him more. Besides, if Shane was actually trying to reach out to him, the least he could do was listen.

"Get to the point," Cam grumbled, narrowing his eyes slightly.

He didn't say he had to be happy about it.

Shane smiled, "Let me teach you how to shred." Cam looked at him disbelievingly. "We'll take it slow," he assured.

_I'm sure we will_.

Cam wondered if Shane would think it odd for him to call a time out so that he could bang his head against the wall a few times.

Probably.

"Are you serious?" Cam asked, pitch rising slightly.

Shane didn't catch it.

"Deadly." He smirked. "As soon as that thing heals up, I can start showing you the ropes."

"_That thing_" being Cam's ankle.

No.

_No. No. No. No. nononononononononono-_

He had stuff to do, it was important, he couldn't just-

Cam attempted to try and express these feelings. "I don't-"

"Cam," Shane interrupted, staring at him hard.

_And_ that was it. Just "Cam".

In all honesty, that was all he needed to say.

This was an olive branch, and Cam needed to take it. Besides, this way Dustin's gear wouldn't go to waste.

"…it was a little fun," Cam admitted, earning a smile from Shane. "Before I wiped out."

That _hadn't_ been fun.

Shane laughed.

"Ate it," he corrected, patting Cam on the shoulder. "Surfers wipe out."

Cam shrugged. "I was unaware the verb was exclusive."

He was pretty sure it could be applied either way.

Ridiculously proud worked well on Shane's face. "Learn something new everyday."

_Indeed_.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

The internet was a wonderful thing.

In Hunter's opinion, at least.

There was truly no other way to put it. You wanted something, you wanted to _know_ something, someone, anything at all, you just had to type it in, hit search, and answers come flooding down on you in never ending waves. Sure, not all of them were going to pertain to the particular something/someone/anything that you happened to be searching for but, somewhere in the middle of it, the answer was going to appear.

It was quick, it was fast, and it was incredibly convenient.

So that was why when Hunter hit the one hour mark of perusing the local movie theater's website to get tickets for the Martial Arts film festival that was showing Fists of Fire 2, he was just about ready to go Thunder Ranger on his computer.

Seriously, who designed this website? It had the worst layout in the world. Most places would _want_ you to spend money but **_no_**_,_ not this place. This place had links to its history, mission, vision, viewing history, reviews, newspaper articles that had even the slightest mention of the theater, menu for the snack bar, accommodations for meetings and birthdays, ticket _prices,_ even a link that described the festival he _desperately _wanted to attend, but nowhere (and he would know because he had looked, thoroughly), **_nowhere_** could he find a place to actually _buy_ tickets.

It wouldn't be so bad if Hunter could just go to the theater to make his purchase (he always felt better about buying things in person anyway, using cash), but this tiny theater was insistent on stepping into the technological age, so it only offered the tickets online. That was, if you could find them.

Hunter could not.

The sound of the key scraping against the lock indicated that Blake was done with his shift at Storm Chargers (he was late by about fifteen minutes, so that meant that he had stopped to flirt with Tori). _Ah_, Tori; that poor soul. If Blake continued at his normal rate he _might_ ask her out around the time they finished saving the world from Lothor. Hunter loved his brother, but his ideas of taking it slow made a snail look like Speed Racer. _He_ knew it was Blake's way of respecting Tori, and also his way of ensuring he didn't get hurt _just_ in case he had misread any signals. Hunter had told his brother time and time again to just ask her _out_ already, because it was really starting to get sad, but Blake was insistent.

Slow and steady.

So, like Hunter said, poor Tori.

"You're late," he pointed out gruffly, not bothering to look up from their worn-out laptop that was in their sparsely decorated, sad excuse for a living room.

The blond already knew the reason why, but this was the way they usually ended up greeting each other.

At least when _he_ was late it was a surprise.

"I was talking to Tori," Blake replied, the sound of his jacket and keys being placed on the wall hook preempted him crossing the room and leaning on the back of Hunter's chair. "What are you doing?"

Hunter glared harder at the screen, willing the internet to cooperate. "I'm _trying_ to get us tickets to the Martial Arts Film festival."

They had been talking about it for over two weeks now. Fists of Fire had been one of their favorite movies and they had never gotten a chance to see the sequel. It had been released almost after…well, then. That thing that left them with no parents. But now they were big boys who could deal with happy memories from before…then, and as soon as Blake heard about the festival Hunter had started seeking out tickets. Between work, training, and ranger duties it was difficult to get in some brother bonding time. Unless sleeping in the same room counted as bonding. But Hunter wasn't really feeling it.

Blake snickered beside him, hands kneading his shoulders. "I assume that's not going very well."

_No, it's going _**_wonderful. _**_In fact I got the tickets hours ago; I just kept staring at the screen because I _**_love_**_ the idea of damaging my eyesight. It makes me happy._

Hunter settled on a response that was less of an attack on Blake's stupid comment. "I wanna find the guy who made this website and set his house on fire."

Actually, he was leaning more towards murder, but Sensei Kanoi might look down on that just a little.

"That bad?" Blake asked, choosing to make himself less of a nuisance (and guaranteeing his continued uninjured state of being) by continuing his massage, pressing into Hunter's shoulders.

"Worse," Hunter grumbled, triple clicking the mouse angrily when his selected link refused to load.

So what if it wouldn't speed up the process? It made him feel better.

"Let me take a look," Blake demanded, halting his ministrations. Hunter growled but moved aside, looking forward to his brother's imminent failure. He was willing to admit it wasn't a nice thing to hope for, but with all his snarkiness Blake needed to be taken down a few pegs. If any website could do it, this was the one.

Hunter stretched lazily, kicking his legs back to get the blood circulating again.

"I've already been through this entire website," he lectured, popping his neck. "And I'm telling you there is absolutely no page that-"

"Got it," Blake interrupted. Hunter almost didn't hear him because of his rant; he had it all thought out and everything. He had intended to end it by insulting Blake's intelligence or something of the like.

Instead, there he was, blinking in wonderment before he bent closer to the screen to see that yes, Blake had found it.

"Top right corner," his brother continued, smug face on. "Bright green box."

It was all Hunter could do to not smash Blake's head into the laptop screen.

"I hate you," he groused, smacking the back of his brother's head anyway.

_That_ was for the smug face.

Blake's smile widened as he casually brushed pretend dust off of his shoulders. "Don't hate the player; hate the game."

"Whatever," Hunter grunted, pushing on Blake's shoulder. "Move."

His brother appeased him, getting out of the way so he could order the tickets (Hunter had started this, he was going to end it). He had expected at least a little more gloating (because how could he have missed a lime green box anyway?) or maybe a little more massaging (that was more of a hopeless wish) but instead Blake seemed to settle on pacing back and forth behind him, awkwardly shifting his weight whenever he came to a halt. This was a bright neon sign that showed he was thinking about something that made him nervous.

So it was something to do with Tori.

If he asked him for girl advice one more time, Hunter was going to sling him out the window.

Blake halted his walk suddenly and cleared his throat. "Hey, ah…could you get an extra ticket?"

Oh, good, not girl talk. Well, not _girl _talk, talk _about_ girls…

Whatever.

"Would this extra ticket be for Tori?" Hunter asked, copying Blake's smug tone from earlier as he glanced behind him.

The navy ranger frowned, not appreciating the irony.

"Is there something wrong with that?" he asked, crossing his arms defensively.

There was no way Hunter would have anything wrong with that because this was his brother, but something about girls tended to make Blake stupid.

Hunter informed him of this delicately.

For him.

"No," Hunter replied, rolling his eyes. "But you should know it's not really a date when your brother tags along." He _did not_ feel like chaperoning. "Unless you two don't want me to sit with you." He wasn't fond of the idea, but he was willing to go with it for Blake's sake.

"What?" his brother looked confused. "No, it's not a date," Blake insisted, collapsing on a bean bag chair and waving his hands. "I just want to hang out with her."

Hang out?

_Poor Tori._

Hunter didn't bother arguing about it because Blake wasn't going to budge on the issue, so the blond settled for scoffing sarcastically. It was a thing he did very well.

"_O-kay_," he taunted, turning back around to amend the ticket order. Being the third wheel didn't sound like the best of times but this was Fists of Fire 2, and Hunter wasn't ducking out on it. Tori would just have to deal, for now.

Hunter would make it up to her later.

There was a repetitive tapping noise emanating from Blake's general direction, a pen he was clicking against the window sill, another subconscious thinking habit.

"You should invite someone," his brother threw out, interrupting his repetitive beating.

"I did," Hunter replied casually. "I invited you."

The blond knew what Blake meant, but he had meant this to be a brother trip. Sure, friend time (or girlfriend time to the ever-protesting Blake) was fun, but it wasn't the same. Also, Hunter hadn't had very much time to reevaluate his options.

"I don't count," Blake insisted, moving the pen from the window to his leg.

Hunter scoffed (see, he was great at it). "Last I checked-"

"One of the other guys," Blake clarified, not waiting for his brother to spin a yarn. If allowed Hunter would've just kept going until the matter was dropped. Unfortunately that strategy had stopped working on Blake years ago.

It never hurt to try.

"No," Hunter pressed. "No way am I getting tangled up in that mess."

He wasn't sure _what_ was going on there, and he didn't want to get mixed up with it until he had some kind of clarification.

Blake's tapping stopped. "What mess?"

"Are you blind?" Hunter asked, looking at his brother incredulously. He knew Blake was a little Tori-struck, but they had been less than a foot away from them on Monday, and it wasn't like the show (that they were now going to watch every week) was exactly super enthralling.

For goodness sake it had been going on _right in front of them._

"What?" Blake repeated, sounding genuinely confused.

Hunter shook his head and continued typing in information. "You're hopeless."

Blake, unsatisfied with Hunter's lack of answer, got up and repositioned himself behind the blond, leaning over his shoulder to look him in the eye.

"What mess?" he repeated, starting to look a little annoyed.

Hunter sighed and started ticking off points on his fingers. "Shane…Cam…Dustin." Well, if he thought about it- "Actually, I'm not sure about Dustin."

He seemed like the kind of guy who was affectionate to everybody. At least, the people he cared about.

Hunter could understand that.

Blake looked at the crimson ranger hard one more time before giving up on getting an answer, rocking back on his heels.

"Then invite _him_, seeing as he's not involved in this figurative mess you don't feel like talking about," he finished with obnoxious finger quotes and a dramatic sigh.

Hunter rolled his eyes. "If you didn't notice it, you don't get to talk about it."

He didn't want to get Blake involved in it either. Not-talking about it would protect everyone from the navy ranger committing unknowing acts of stupidity.

"Fine," Blake huffed, walking back to his chair. "Hey, whatever it is, there are three of them, so they can't all be taken."

_Assuming I'm interested._

Hunter had long discovered he was bisexual, having no particular preference for either sex. It made sense to him; if someone made him happy then they made him happy, and he wasn't going to discount them just because of their gender. Blake readily accepted that, encouraging him to go after…well, anybody. He just wanted Hunter to be happy. Unfortunately, this also meant that he tried to set Hunter up with anything that had a pulse. Sure, the blond was bisexual, but that didn't mean he was without standards.

He was still working on getting that through Blake's head.

Hunter made a show of a thoughtful expression to indicate he was listening. "I guess you have a point."

"Of course I do," Blake replied, sounding pleased to have essential set up a double date. Or "double hang-out" in his book.

That was, if Dustin said yes.

"Okay," Hunter said, checking his email account for the order confirmation. "Four tickets ordered; they should be here on Friday."

Just in the knick of time.

"Way to cut it close," Blake joked, standing up from his bean bag with a groan and heading towards their kitchenette.

Hunter scowled at his back.

"Shut it Blake," he growled, copying his brother's movements and joining him in the kitchen. With all of his computer troubles he had forgotten about eating; now his stomach was protesting tenfold.

They were halfway through making their sandwiches when Blake broke the silence with a casual question, "What do you think I should wear?"

Hunter groaned and shook his head quickly, slathering on some mustard at high speed and finishing his sandwich.

"No, _no_," he muttered. "We're not doing this conversation."

_We are not having this conversation _**_ever_**_._

The weather wasn't _that_ bad; he could eat lunch on the balcony and avoid this issue completely.

Plan prepared, he grabbed a soda out of the fridge and ducked out, door shutting just before he heard Blake's confused, "What?" call out behind him.

* * *

><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

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><p>Endnotes:<p>

Hi all! Quick change up on the endnotes, Muse, bless her heart, has finally thrown in the towel for all things 'Any Moment' related. She lasted a good while, at least twenty chapters and all of the current 'B' version, but she just can't stands it no more.

Taking her place is the grammatically gifted and ever diligent Rogue Ranger (who was already correcting all the errors we missed _anyway_, because he is just that good, and we are that bad). This was our training wheels chapter, I'll probably have the new endnotes figured out for ten, but until then…

Thank you Rogue, you are awesome! Couldn't do this without you : )

Oh, but there _are_ new endnotes for ch 8, if you'd like to take a peek.

"The other" count (chapter): 2

"The other" count (cumulative): 14

Until next time.


	10. Agony

Chapter 10

Agony

I don't own Into the Woods… still.

Takes place during "Pork Chopped".

-:-:-:-:-:-

Whenever Dustin was working on a bike, he felt like he was at the top of his game, focusing so intently on his work that he tended to blur everything else out until he was in his own little world, where it was just him and the bike and sheer awesomeness.

He got a lot of good thinking done that way.

And that was why he didn't immediately catch on when Hunter came up and started a conversation with him. At least, Dustin assumed there was a conversation going on; like he said, he wasn't too sure. The brunette had only noticed the other ranger when he reached over to grab a certain tool and was blocked by a solid clothed wall. A solid, clothed, warm wall that felt a lot like a person. With abs.

Startled, the earth ninja pulled his hand back and looked over to see that Hunter had been leaning against the table right beside him, and was giving him an incredulous look.

"Did you catch any of that?" the crimson ranger asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"…No?" Dustin replied, wracking his brain in case he might have caught something.

Yeah, he had nothing.

Hunter nodded slowly, looking over the pieces that lay scattered around the broken bike.

"I get that way too," he said suddenly, sharp eyes turning back to Dustin. "When I work on bikes."

"Really?" Because that would be seriously awesome if Dustin wasn't like the lone-doofus who couldn't pay attention to his surroundings.

Not that Hunter was a doofus or anything.

"Sure," Hunter replied, willing to go along with it. He blinked a couple of times before gesturing hesitantly towards Dustin's face. "You got something…"

"Where?" the yellow ranger asked, looking wildly around for a mirror. _Nertz_, he must have gotten some oil on his face. He wished he kept more reflective things in the shop so he could see for sure.

"Eyebrow," Hunter said, sounding just the tiniest bit amused.

Sure, laugh at Dustin's pain. See how you felt about it when it happened to you.

Except it wouldn't happen to him, because he was Hunter, and he actually _thought _about what he did before he did it.

"Oh…" Dustin mumbled, searching for a rag. He spotted one tucked into his tool kit and yanked it out so he could get rid of the mess as fast as he could. It was halfway to his face before Hunter lunged at him suddenly, grabbing the rag and pulling it out of Dustin hand.

"Don't!" he shouted, and Dustin was about to ask him in which of the past few seconds he had lost his mind when Hunter turned the rag over (the part Dustin had been _going_ to use) to reveal a gigantic blotch of oil.

See, there was that thinking-before-doing-stuff thing again.

Dustin just didn't have the hang of it yet.

"Here," Hunter began more calmly; tossing aside the dirty cloth and locating a clean one. "Let me get it."

Dustin was about to protest (because he wasn't _that_ incapable) but Hunter had already grabbed his face with one hand and began the process of wiping whatever mess Dustin managed to get on himself away. During the process, the mechanic couldn't help but think about how surprisingly gentle Hunter was being. Dustin would have thought the crimson ranger would be a lot rougher about it, being the gruffest of the rangers. Maybe he was kind of like Cam. Or a Nestle Drumstick. He was all hard and covered with nuts on the outside but on the inside he was all soft and sweet and stuff.

And incredibly delicious.

Hunter pulled the rag away delicately, giving Dustin's eyebrow one last look over to make sure he had gotten everything before casually tossing the rag aside and resuming his old position of leaning against the table, acting as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Then again, they _did_ fight an evil space ninja on a day-to-day basis, so Dustin supposed it _was_ nothing out of the ordinary.

It was all about perspective.

"Thanks," Dustin replied cheerfully, rubbing the spot where the other teen's hand had been as the heat climbed up to his face. He turned back to his work quickly in an attempt to hide it and missed Hunter's smirk.

"You're welcome," the other ranger replied, beginning to sound more like his smug self.

Well, that wasn't fair; Hunter wasn't smug _all_ the time. The crimson ranger had just gotten a terrible first impression with the others because of the whole "being-lied-to" thing, so Dustin just had the tendency to _think_ he was always smug. But he wasn't. He was actually a pretty chill guy.

Dustin cleared his throat awkwardly, keeping his eyes on the table. "How long have you been…?"

"Only a few minutes," Hunter confirmed as the tool Dustin had originally been reaching for slid into his view on the table, coming to a rest by his hand.

Dustin grimaced and accepted the tool, mumbling, "Nuts."

Well, a few minutes wasn't too bad.

"It's okay," Hunter assured, patting Dustin on the arm hesitantly before pulling back, like he was afraid the mechanic was going to wig out on him or something, which Dustin wasn't, but he could understand where the blond was coming from.

Finally composed, Dustin chanced looking back over to him, wondering what Hunter had been talking about in the first place.

The crimson ranger caught his confusion and backpedaled, easily restarting the conversation. "Blake and I got tickets to see Fists of Fire 2 at the Martial Arts Film Festival, and I was wondering if you wanted to come."

Pure joy was Dustin's immediate response to the invitation.

"Fists of Fire 2! I love that movie!"

He did; he had seen it with Shane at least a dozen times, and it was easily one of his top ten favorite movies. He had missed it when it had come to theaters (something he was incredibly disappointed about) and had only seen it on a television screen. To go see it at an actually theater would be _so cool._

"That a yes?" Hunter asked, victorious look on his face.

Dustin didn't know what the crimson ranger was happy about; _he _was the one that just got a free ticket to one of the greatest movies of all time.

"Sure!" the yellow ranger replied, good mood returning. "When is it?"

"Tomorrow," the other teen said, pointing off to the side as though there was an invisible calendar. "Three o'clock at Hollywood Cinema."

This would be awesome, Dustin couldn't wait to-

Wait, what was tomorrow?

Saturday.

_Saturday_.

There was something about that Dustin was supposed to remember, something he was supposed to do.

"Saturday?" he asked, trying to get clarification. Maybe it was Thursday and he had just gotten confused.

But Hunter nodded his head to confirm it. "Yeah."

Saturday. Saturday. Saturday. What was-

_The demo_. Shane's Skate Competition was on Saturday and he had been talking about it all week. While Dustin hadn't _promised_ he was going to be there, his presence was pretty much guaranteed. Shane went to every one of his races and Dustin always returned the favor. Except you don't race in skateboarding, but a demo was pretty much the same thing. Shane was scheduled to compete at three, the exact same time the movie started, so there was no way Dustin could do both. He would have to turn Hunter down.

It was such a shame; he had really wanted to go.

The brunette's shoulders sagged dejectedly. "I can't go," he sighed, fiddling with a stray bike part. "Shane's got a demo I promised to go to."

Wait, _no_, Dustin was not going to be sad about missing this. Shane had probably missed plenty of cool stuff for him; the least he could do was return the favor.

"That's cool." Hunter didn't look too upset about it (not in a, _"oh-I-didn't-really-want-you-to-come"_ kind of way, Dustin assured himself). "Maybe some other time," the blond finished casually, reaching over and squeezing Dustin's shoulder to confirm his not-angry state.

Dustin was mildly surprised by this. "Really?"

So maybe he wouldn't get to see Fists of Fire 2 in a theater, but _any_ movie was good for him as long as he had good company. He wasn't all that picky.

Dustin waited expectantly. It was okay if this was only a one time offer; Hunter didn't have to humor him.

He had maintained his casual appearance but Hunter's eyes had this funny look in them, like he was searching for something.

"Yeah," he replied.

The excitement came back. "Awesome, I'll even buy the tickets next time."

Hunter waved at him no. "Don't sweat it man, I got this."

Dustin was a little miffed about his rejected gift but the movie thing was still on so he didn't comment on it, settling for happily agreeing. "Okay."

Hunter smirked again and gave Dustin one last arm pat before turning to leave. "Later man."

Hunter Bradley, coolness incarnate.

"Later," Dustin called after him, waving at his back.

Maybe he could convince him to go on Monday, when they get off work early.

Yes, Monday would be good.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

180 Fakie to Backside Rail slide.

She was a fickle beast; delicate, feisty, and difficult. If you could tame her, you clearly took a step forward in skill level, unquestionably noting yourself as one of the best of the best.

Shane had yet to land one.

He thought (under Dustin's suggestion because these kinds of things tended to work for him) that the pressure of an audience would be enough to get Shane that extra _"umf"_ he needed to complete the move triumphantly, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that _he_ was a person with mad skills. Unfortunately, this had not been the case, and just like every time he had ever attempted it, he ate it big time.

Ironically enough Tori congratulated him on this accomplishment.

Shane knew she wasn't very educated in the ways of skateboarding, but he had thought he had spoken about it enough for her to understand that falling was bad. Maybe she was just trying to stay optimistic, or make him feel better, or some girl-mind trick he didn't understand and didn't want to bother _trying_ to understand. Anyway, even if it made no sense he was willing to ignore any negative feelings he had about it.

And then he had watched her ninja streak off into the distance after she insisted on getting them drinks they didn't need and he decided it would be okay to be just the _tiniest_ bit mad at her. He entertained the idea that she was leaving because of his "wipeout" (Cam got him in the habit of thinking it) for about two seconds (he was allowed to be a little self conscious) when Shane got smart and realized that her earlier reaction only made sense if she _hadn't_ seen his run. He put two and two together and figured out that this hadn't been her first streak away, and he couldn't help but wonder what she had that was so important she needed to keep secret and couldn't possibly miss.

And then Shane got a little bit more than slightly mad at her.

Luckily (or unluckily because it _did_ stop him from chasing her down and demanding answers) there was a swarm of Kelzaks that happily presented themselves (courtesy of Marah) so Shane took out all his anger on those, smacking them with random lawn chairs and thanking whatever power it was that kept people from wandering in on their slugfest because he didn't particularly feel like morphing at the moment (it would be like putting a boxing glove on, the hits wouldn't be nearly as satisfying).

Between Dustin and himself the herd had been thinned down significantly, only leaving what Shane had dubbed as the "Straggler Kelzaks". While Kelzaks were always easy to beat, the last few at the end of every fight tended to be just especially pathetic (at fighting, at ducking, at _everything_), so much so that they tended to be the most fun to deal with, letting the rangers experiment with their fighting styles and ninja powers. Many a new combo had come from Straggler Kelzaks. Shane was in the middle of grappling one into another that seemed to be frantically attacking the leg of a pop-up Gazebo when a chair whizzed by him and smacked into his intended target, leaving it flailing on the ground miserably.

Poor, poor straggler, it never stood a chance.

Shane chucked his Kelzak on top of the other one anyway (his grapples were a little rusty and he was kind of committed by that point) and looked over his shoulder to see Dustin wave at him apologetically and shrug (something that Shane interpreted as a "I couldn't help it, I caught the lawn chair fever" sort of motion). The red ranger smiled back at him because he knew how addictive using the plastic seats as weapons was.

Marah, seeing that she'd been beat, made a hasty withdrawal, leaving the two rangers alone and surrounded by toppled cheap furniture, lying haphazardly on the ground in positions they were never intended to be in. It looked a little like a drunken artist's attempt at modern art, assuming the artist had a repressed hatred for lawn chairs.

Dustin offered his fist and Shane bumped it, pleased with their work, and then the red ranger recalled why they had run over there in the first place and the anger started building up again.

Thankfully Dustin started the conversation so he didn't get a chance to say anything stupid.

"Where do you think Kapri is?"

_That_ was a pretty good question. Usually Marah and Kapri attacked together. In fact (now that Shane thought about it), they had _always _fought together. Even when the team was split up, they usually attacked one of the groups as one, playing as back up for one another. Having them apart now was just…_odd._

So where was Kapri?

Shane could only think of one answer.

"With the others most likely," he replied, allowing himself one last kick to an idle lawn chair (because he was the leader and he couldn't waste any more time pouting) before he tried to figure out what the endgame was here.

Dustin's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Tori, or Hunter and Blake?" he asked, staring at the chair as though it should divulge great secrets.

"Maybe Tori's _with_ Hunter and Blake?" Shane groused absentmindedly, focusing on Kapri's whereabouts so intensely that he almost missed Dustin's reaction.

"Really?" the yellow ranger asked, scratching his chin, thoughful. "Maybe they gave her my ticket."

Now it was Shane's turn to be confused. "What?"

_"What ticket?"_ and _"Ticket to what?"_ were the next questions he wanted to ask but Shane held them back when he realized that yes, Tori _was_ with Hunter and Blake, and secondly (and far less important but he thought about it anyway), Tori _wasn't_ their first choice to go to whatever it was, _Dustin_ was. And in a way this made sense; Dustin was the first person to try and befriend the Bradleys back when they were the new guys (they still were, just not _as _new) so they were just trying to return the favor and that sat okay with Shane, which brought up his spirits somewhat.

"Fists of Fire 2," the other teen continued, smiling fondly in memory of the movie. "Hunter asked if I wanted to go see it with them today, but it started at the same time as your demo."

Shane nodded, figuring how this played out. Dustin couldn't go so Blake had asked Tori (because, even though they wouldn't admit it, they were dating) and _she_ decided she could be in two places at once and said yes.

"And that's where Tori is," Shane finished, sharing his conclusion with Dustin, who kicked weakly at the ground, upset.

It wasn't really lying, but any kind of deceit bothered the yellow ranger. He valued honesty above all else.

"Weak," the Dustin mumbled, combing his hands through his hair.

Shane reached over and gave his back a comforting pat. "Yeah."

The feeling didn't pass, but the skater knew they had wasted enough time here. If Marah was just on decoy duty, the real attack had to be with Kapri and the others.

"Where's the theater?"

"Hollywood Cinema," Dustin replied, slightly more confident, and Shane nodded in confirmation before turning and streaking off in the direction of the cinema, not bothering to worry about the rule breaking (Sensei might as well dole out the punishments to all of them if he was going to get on Tori's case) and Dustin followed his lead eagerly.

_Get there, find Kapri, take her out._

There, plan ready.

Sometimes you just have to keep it simple.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

So Dustin wasn't the smartest guy; he knew this, his team knew this, his teachers knew this (and he'd become pretty okay with it because he liked to think he made up for this with his cheerful personality), but somehow, someway, _he_ managed to make the right choice when _Tori_ hadn't. Seriously Tor, bros before…other bros (he couldn't call Blake a ho, even in his mind). It was the rules. Dustin had _really_ (multiply that by infinity) wanted to go see Fist's of Fire 2 and _he_ hadn't gone, so why hadn't she made the same choice? Blake would have understood.

Probably.

Shane, being far less upset than Dustin had thought he would be (but that was mostly because he'd gone into ranger mode; the feelings would come back later), brought them to a halt just outside the movie theater, signaling that now was the time for sneaking. They crept into the building slowly. Hollywood Cinema was one of the older, smaller theaters around town that only showed old favorites and foreign films, so it didn't usually have a lot of people. Still, with this Film Festival there could be a lot of civilians around, so Shane's main goal was to get the rest of the team out as quickly and quietly as possible so they could have the fight outside. The lobby, as Dustin had thought it was going to be, was empty, no signs of any suspicious people, weapons, or objects, and Shane waved him forward into the only theater and was slightly startled to find…nothing.

Well, nothing out of the ordinary (unless the theater _not_ being packed was out of the ordinary, which Dustin would argue it was if he wasn't so busy being stealthy).

Oh and there was a guy in a chicken suit holding a tray full of popcorn.

Dustin was _not_ going to question the marketing ploy on that one.

Shane was already halfway down the aisle, checking both sides of the room for the others, when chicken man halted his distribution of popcorn. Dustin thought he was about to blow the red ranger's cover to ask if he wanted to partake in the popcorn goodness when chicken man's eyes began to glow this evil kind of red, and Dustin was already jump-kicking him hard before evil-chicken man could commit whatever evil-chicken deeds he'd planned in that twisted evil-chicken mind of his.

The earth ninja was lucky (by this Dustin meant that he hadn't just imaginde the glow and attacked some poor schmuck in a chicken suit) and when his foot connected with chicken-man's chest it felt distinctly _not_ human, and then chicken-man was flying backwards into an audience of what now appeared to be Kelzaks. Then Evil-chicken man took off the suit and revealed himself to really be evil-pig man (which didn't have as nice a ring to it so Dustin understood why he went with the suit).

He heard the others move into action behind him, attacking Kelzaks, leaving Dustin and evil-pig man to fight one-on-one; at least, Dustin _tried_ to fight one-on-one with evil-pig man but then evil-pig man decided that he didn't appreciate Dustin's jump kick and hurled the brunette across the room, leaving him in the upper far corner. He didn't have time to morph before he was surrounded by his very own group of Kelzaks who seemed very intent on…throwing popcorn at him?

What, did they want him to eat it? Was it poisoned?

After a few blocks, Dustin jumped down a row and figured out that they were _not_ trying to throw popcorn at him, only one of them was, and it wasn't really trying to _throw_ the popcorn so much as it was just happening because it kept trying to hit Dustin with this futuristic looking popcorn container-thing that _looked_ like it tried to be a spaceship and failed.

Man, Kelzaks were _dumb._

Seriously? A popcorn container?

**_That's _**_your weapon of choice?_

Dustin was in the middle of rolling over a couple of seats (and an odd straw hat) when it dawned on him that he'd never seen a Kelzak fight with _any_ kind of weapon before. Why would they start to now? He decided for safety's sake to simply avoid the container thing and darted out of the Kelzaks reach, hopping down a few rows to team-up with Blake (who was also unmorphed) who _had not_ had popcorn thrown on him. Another look around told Dustin that no one else had either.

He must be special.

"Did it get to the part where they're fighting by the cars?" he asked, flipping a Kelzak over the row in front of them and watching it tumble unceremoniously to the ground.

"Yeah," Blake grunted in return, and Dustin heard him land a good punch that was followed by another Kelzak meeting the floor. "It was awesome."

_You don't have to rub it in_.

But Dustin had asked for it, so he wasn't too mad about it. Or, if he was, he channeled it into his fighting so he hadn't really noticed.

"Hey," the yellow ranger started again, pausing to duck a wild swing before returning the favor. "Avoid the popcorn bowl."

A startled noise came from Blake's direction but Dustin didn't bother worrying over it because he had his hands full, and across the room he saw Shane and Hunter tag teaming evil-pig man, using their newly found teamwork to the max.

"What?" Blake called back and Dustin had to tear his eyes away from _that_ fight (because he couldn't focus on _his_ fight and _their_ fight and talking to Blake at once) so that he could think of a proper response.

"The popcorn thing, they kept trying to hit me with it. Don't touch it," he warned, and he had to jump over another seat just so he could get into Blake's field of vision to point to the Kelzak that was throwing popcorn at him earlier, who was steadily making his way across the room and getting close to Tori.

Too close.

"You sure?" Blake asked nervously, noting its distance from his unofficial girlfriend, and he tried to fight his way closer to her but was blocked by five new Kelzaks that seemed to have dropped down from the ceiling.

Well, they were _ninjas_, so it kind of made sense.

"Better safe than…popcorned?" Dustin replied, hurling one of his attackers into another before making the choice to be proactive.

He threw an odd salute to the navy ranger that he wasn't sure Blake caught and leapt onto the seat backs, hopping from row to row and dodging falling Kelzaks, making his way towards the Kelzak with the container that'd begun hurling popcorn on Tori. Now that Dustin could see it at a distance, it looked like the Kelzak wasn't just trying to hit her with the container, he was trying to hit her with the very top of it, not bothering to try and smack her with its sides. Holding it must not hurt you; it was what was on the inside that must be bad.

Situation evaluated, the yellow ranger leapt over the seats and barreled into his target, knocking the container to the ground. He gave the Kelzak a quick jab to the head to make sure it didn't get up before he scrambled across the ground and grabbed the container triumphantly. Dustin rolled to his feet and was about to use it on one of the Kelzaks (to see if it was really a weapon or just a stupid popcorn container) when a stray kick came out of nowhere and knocked it out of his hands.

In his mind the container flew through the air in slow motion, arcing dramatically over the mob of Kelzaks.

Another kick (probably from the same place as before) threw Dustin across the seats, and he pushed his head back so he could see where the container fell, hoping that it would hit evil-pig man so they could call it a day.

Dustin shoved the stray Kelzak that was hitting him away carelessly, never taking his eyes off the container and time seemed to freeze as it fell (top down) to where an unsuspecting Shane was helping Hunter off the ground. Dustin yelled just as the container hit the skater's back, and the two red rangers were suddenly no more, vanished into thin air. Evil-pig man laughed and snatched the container up off the ground before Dustin could barrel his way across the room and _make_ him give back their friends, and suddenly he was gone too, leaving Dustin, Blake, and Tori in an empty theater with popcorn strewn all over the place.

His best friend was gone because of him, (they'd get them back, because that was what they did), but that didn't change the fact it had happened and that was when the real agony kicked in.

When Dustin woke up this morning, he never would have thought he'd want to swear off popcorn.

But right now he kind of did.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Endnotes:

**On "Nertz":**

Rogue: "Nertz?"

Me: "Yeah, it's my brother's alternative to cussing whenever we're with our parents."

Rogue: "Do I sense an attempt at making a new slang word? It might catch on…" *thinks* "Nertz. What you say when you're out of awesomesauce."

Me: "…"

Me: "I heart you _so_ much."

Best definition of Nertz _ever_.

**On "Nuts":**

Rogue: "Not Nertz?"

Me: "Gotta use it sparingly."

**On Mind Tricks:**

Rogue: "Girl-mind trick; far more powerful than a Jedi mind trick."

Me: "And don't you forget it."

*crazy eye* "Years of training man, years of training."

Rogue: "…I will keep this in mind."

*hides under bed*

**On "Hoes" vs. "Hos":**

Rogue: *stares* "I'm pretty sure that the 'ho' from the rhyme doesn't have an e, but I could be wrong."

Me: *stops, thinks about this* "To Google!"

*Urban dictionary* "…Yes, yes it would appear you're right."

Rogue: *happy dance* "Yay! I win! I just knew you weren't referring to farm tools!"

*stops, very thoughtful* "Because using your bros to till the ground before actual tools is just wrong."

**On "The other" count:**

Rogue: "I counted more. What rule were you following again?"

Me: "The rule was that I used the phrase "the other" without completing it. For example, "_He stared at the other, and then threw his shoe at the window."_

*continues* "In this instance I should finish the phrase with something like, _"The other teen"_ or _"The other guy"_ or _"the other ranger."_

Rogue: "…or the other shoe."

Me: "…"

Me: "Heart."

Me: "_So_ much."

"The other" count (chapter): 2

"The other" cont (cumulative): 16

Until next time.


	11. Accident Waiting to Happen

Chapter 11

Accident Waiting to Happen

I don't own the Drowsy Chaperone

Takes place during "Pork Chopped"

* * *

><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

* * *

><p>The fight had been immediate, throwing them all into action without allowing them the chance to morph, but for the most part, Shane had thought it had gone all right. The arrangement of the seating limited the amount of Kelzaks that could attack them (depending on where you were standing) and while the seats might have impeded <em>their<em> attack mobility, it impeded the giant pig monster's _more._ Shane and Hunter had ended up tag teaming the pig guy, and they were making short work of him until Hunter had gotten blindsided by a falling Kelzak and was unceremoniously thrown to the ground. Shane had been in the middle of helping the blond get up when something hit his back and suddenly everything went dark and the fight disappeared.

No, it wasn't that the fight had disappeared; it was more like he and Hunter had disappeared from the fight and _reappeared_ after the darkness had passed in a giant box with red and white stripes on the wall. The walls led up to a white circular shaped disc (lid maybe?) thing on the ceiling. Shane's first thought was alternate dimension, and _damn,_ those things were _really _starting to get old, and then he realized that he was standing in about two feet of cloudy, yellow, oily liquid that appeared to have…giant pieces of popcorn floating in it.

Which meant…

They were in a popcorn container. They'd been foiled by an evil popcorn container.

Where did Lothor come up with this stuff?

Despite the number of things the red ranger _should_ be worried about (like how to get _out_ and how they got _in_), Shane couldn't help but feel a little relieved that Hunter was trapped in here with him. If the crimson ranger wasn't, Shane would have never been able to live it down. Speaking of whom, Hunter was still on the ground (as he had been outside) and had successfully managed to become soaked in the liquid butter flavoring (Shane was pretty sure by this point it wasn't really butter). Mentally, Shane celebrated that the stuff had only soaked into the very bottom of his shorts.

As if Karma had read his mind, the container shook, throwing Shane to the ground and submerging him in the nasty oily awfulness. He broke up out of it as soon as he could and tried to shake himself off but the stuff was _everywhere_, in his nose, his eyes, his _hair. _When he cleared his eyes he was greeted by a smirking Hunter, who had taken to leaning against the far wall (not much better off than the skater was, but celebrating it). Shane was about to glare at him and stand back up when the container rocked again and he was launched through the air. He slammed into the wall next to Hunter, sliding down it and ending up back in his liquid tormenter.

Okay, so no more snarky thoughts _ever_.

He had learned his lesson.

Hunter took pity on Shane and pulled him out of the golden flavoring, helping him get his back against the wall so that he could stabilize himself. Shane gave a shaky nod of thanks and motioned to their morphers; it was time to bust out of this popsicle stand. Hunter gave a look that showed he completely agreed and they moved into action, calling out their morphing commands and preparing to get _out _of here and-

Nothing happened.

Shane took a second to blink stupidly, staring at his morpher in confusion, because it had never _not_ worked, and then he noticed that Hunter hadn't morphed either and was sharing in his befudlement.

"That can't be good," Shane murmured, rubbing some of the oil off of his face.

Hunter began shifting his weight (which was the only indication that Shane had ever gotten from him that meant he was nervous).

"Try blasting the lid off with air," Hunter suggested/ordered (but Shane took it as a suggestion).

With a calm breath, the red ranger closed his eyes and focused his energy, then unleashed a furious blast of air at the ceiling.

But instead of that desired result, his energy was contained within him and, try as he might to use it, nothing happened.

"I can't," Shane admitted, throwing a glare at the ceiling.

Hunter grunted beside him. Shane was about to tell him to go ahead and give it a try when the other teen took a solid stance away from the wall and closed his eyes, already one step ahead of him. Shane hadn't decided whether to be happy or peeved if the blond succeeded, and as it turned out, he didn't have to choose because it soon became apparent that Hunter couldn't access his powers either, and now both of them were glaring daggers at the ceiling.

Maybe they should be doing something more productive.

Eventually Shane gave up his staring contest.

"I think the container's…" he searched for the right word. "Nullifying our powers. Or like, muting them."

Hunter gave a thoughtful look. "Yeah," he finally agreed, moving to lean back against the wall.

The floor (now done harassing Shane) shifted underneath their feet, and Hunter smashed against the wall with an _"uff",_ while Shane's feet slid out from under him. He met the floor again, though luckily he didn't end up sucked underneath the yellow goo, instead he just had an uncomfortable sitting position. Hunter growled and lowered himself slowly, moving to sit beside Shane in the slimy badness. Obviously the container didn't like it when they stood.

Well, at least this way it would be easier to keep their balance.

"Now what?" Shane asked, glaring back at the ceiling.

So close but so far.

Hunter sighed and knocked an idle popcorn piece away, just as frustrated as he was. "I guess we wait."

_I guess we do._

Shane and Hunter, while they had managed to create a working relationship where they both kind of led (Shane wouldn't admit it because he was still the red guy and as Dustin insisted _that_ was who got to be in charge), hadn't really become friends. It should make situations like these awkward, and it kind've was, but he supposed now was as good a time as ever to fix that problem.

"So," the air ninja began, blinking his eyes to relieve some of the strain from glaring. "How was the movie?"

Hunter gave him a look, questioning the sudden topic, before eventually shrugging, and settled back against the wall. "Until the Kelzaks showed up, pretty good."

Which would ruin any movie event.

Shane searched for something else to say and eventually settled on, "Yeah, it's one of me and Dustin's favorites."

The container shook again, but it wasn't as major as before, and the two red rangers braced themselves against the wall and scrunched their eyes shut as more "butter" sloshed into their faces. The shaking passed and they sputtered, wiping the oil out of their eyes.

Hunter coughed and spat out some "flavor" that had made its way into his mouth. "I haven't gotten to see it yet."

Because a giant pig monster had attacked and trapped him in a container of butter, with just a hint of popcorn.

"Oh," Shane replied, and then realized he had nothing to add to that. "Well you should."

He wanted to wince at how lame that sounded.

Hunter gave a cough that could have been a laugh. "Yeah."

The comment was followed by an odd silence, in which both of them were trying to figure out what (and if) they should say. Eventually they both settled on a subject that had been of interest since the fight had started, but their timing was so matched that they turned to face each other at the same time.

"Was Tori-?" Shane asked just as Hunter started to say, "Did Tori-?"

They both stopped and snapped their mouths shut, staring at each other until eventually Hunter gave a shrug.

"Go for it," he said.

_Moment of truth_.

"Was Tori seeing the movie with you guys?" Shane asked, knowing the answer but seeking confirmation.

"Yeah," Hunter nodded, looking at him oddly. "Blake invited her to 'hang out'." The sarcasm was clear, complete with exaggerated air quotes. "She kept disappearing though," he finished, looking back at the red ranger, trying to get his own validation.

Shane sat back with a sigh, slumping against the wall.

"She was at the skate demo," he answered the silent question.

Hunter leaned back against the wall, understanding washing over him.

"Two places at once?" he asked, in a tone that said _"Wow, that's so bad a plan I'm surprised she actually came up with it, let alone tried to carry it out."_

Shane couldn't stop his chuckle. "Yeah."

Hunter gave a quiet laugh too, drawing a leg up to his chest to rest his arm on it. "Not effective."

_Understatement._

"Nope," Shane agreed with a frown, wondering how exactly Tori's plan was going to work in the long run. How many excuses could you have to leave?

"I thought it was weird when she said she could come after Dustin turned me down."

Because Dustin had been their first choice.

Something bothered Shane though.

"Why'd you ask her then?"

All the answers he came up with were ridiculous.

What, were they trying to take his friends? See if they could woo Tori away with tickets? Were they always going to do this?

The red ranger frowned, folding his arms in thought.

Hunter caught his look. "I didn't," he insisted, and then went back to staring at the other wall. "Blake did, right after I gave him his tickets."

Oh…okay then.

Not trying to steal friends.

_Wait_.

"_His _tickets?" Shane asked, trying to see if he heard correctly. Was Hunter not invited?

"Two for him, two for me," the crimson ranger replied, splashed idly in the oil.

Shane's look of continued confusion must have egged the blond into elaborating.

"Hey, I just wanted it to be a brother thing," Hunter said, frowning back at the ceiling. "He's the one who insisted on the dates."

Shane froze.

"Dates?" he asked, voice ridiculously calm considering how he felt inside.

Like _"date-dates"_?

Blake asking Tori, that would be a date, but Hunter asking Dustin, that wasn't a date.

It wasn't.

Hunter continued, not noticing Shane's reaction.

"Hanging out, whatever he calls it. It's pretty much a date," Hunter said, not clarifying the he-and-Dustin part of it at all. The crimson ranger might enjoy being cool and mysterious, but Shane wasn't letting him off that easily; he wanted answers and he wanted them _now_.

"You asked Dustin out?" Shane pressed, struggling to keep his voice normal.

He didn't know what he was worried about (or why). Hunter would say no, they would have a laugh, and then they could make fun of Blake because Hunter didn't seem to have any issues with his brother's faults and then Shane would hurriedly change the subject and everything would be okay.

It would be fine.

But instead of the head shake he so desperately wanted, Hunter responded with a nod.

"Yeah," he replied, still looking at the ceiling. "He seemed cool with it."

The world may or may not have stopped for Shane at that moment.

He still wasn't sure what was or why it was bothering him.

Instead of focusing on it, his mouth kicked into action and spilled out the first thing that came to mind after that comment.

"You're gay?"

_No mouth, he asked Dustin out on a date because he was straight; he just gets his kicks that way._

Strangely enough Shane would have been relieved if that had been the answer, and the relief would be immediately followed by indescribable rage, but at the moment he could live with that.

Hunter finally looked back at him, warning in his eyes.

"Bi," he answered, a hint of warning in his tone. "Got a problem with it?"

His hard stare spurred Shane into action, making him actually think about the question. _Did_ he have a problem with it?

Hunter was a guy. Hunter was a guy on his team who liked girls _and_ boys.

Did Shane have a problem with this?

No, no he didn't.

"No," he replied after a few minutes.

Hunter stared the air ninja down for a few more seconds to make sure his answer was legit before eventually relaxing, slumping back against the wall in satisfaction.

"Okay then."

And for him the discussion was pretty much over.

If only that were true.

Shane pressed onward. "Did Dustin _know_ it was a date?"

Because, quite frankly, Shane couldn't make any sense of it any other way. Dustin had never given any signs that he liked guys (Shane thought) and the only way Dustin would have been excited about this (that was clear when he had finally told Shane about it) was if he thought it was just a hanging-out thing.

It was Hunter's turn to think this time. The blond cocked his head to the side and played around with the oil flavoring, a contemplative look on his face.

Eventually he shrugged. "I don't think so."

"Huh," Shane murmured (because his mouth seemed to enjoy racing in front of his brain) and he finally relaxed, happy to end the conversation there.

See, everything was okay. Blake asked Tori out, that was cool. Hunter was bi and that was cool. Hunter asked Dustin out on a date and Dustin didn't know it was a date so he said yes. The brunette _wouldn't_ have said yes if he had known it was a date.

There was a small voice asking if that was really the case.

Shane decided the voice was irrelevant and tried to block it out by focusing on playing his favorite song really loud over and over again in his head. He didn't get the chance to see if it would have worked as a distraction though, because Hunter decided they weren't done with the conversation.

"Is he gay?" Hunter asked, startling Shane just as he reached the chorus. The voice was gone, but now he was faced with an inquisitive crimson ranger who didn't look like he was going to back down any time soon.

"What?" Shane asked anyway, hoping he had heard wrong and Hunter had really asked _"Is he… gray?"_

So what if it didn't make any sense?

Hunter was unperturbed.

"You two are like, attached at the hip," he illustrated this by gesturing to Shane's. "So you would know right?"

His steady gaze let Shane know that silence wasn't an option, so the red ranger gave him the only answer he knew. "He's not gay."

There, the end. Stop trying to woo him.

St…start, no starting to try and woo him.

No wooing.

Red guy said so.

Hunter was persistent.

"You sure?" he asked, disbelief clear in his eyes. "Most guys don't talk about it."

_Have you even met Dustin? He talks about everything._

"Yeah, I'm sure," Shane replied, starting to get a little annoyed.

Then, despite his good judgment, he added, "He doesn't talk about that kind of thing," and then he immediately regretted it because that would only encourage Hunter.

"What kind of thing?" the other teen asked, starting to get a little angry himself. "The kind of thing where he likes guys?"

Shane choked. A little, not a lot.

Okay, maybe a lot. But it was a _ninja_ a lot, so Hunter didn't notice. Or he didn't care. That was probably more accurate.

The blond kept going.

"Or the kind of thing where he likes girls, or the kind of thing where he's romantically interested in anyone?"

The red ranger wilted slightly under his stare. "Dustin…likes everybody, he doesn't talk about romance," Shane admitted, because…he _didn't_.

That was so _weird_; Shane had never noticed that Dustin just didn't talk about that kind of thing. In fact, Shane had given up on talking about girls around the yellow ranger because the conversations never went anywhere. He always thought that was just because of the other teen had confidence issues.

No. It _was_ because of his lack of confidence; Hunter was just twisting this.

"So he's avoiding it," the crimson ranger concluded, nodding to himself.

_That_ pissed Shane off.

"He just doesn't think about it!" he insisted, turning his side to the wall to maintain eye contact with the other ranger better.

Hunter rolled his eyes. "He's _really_ touchy feely," he ticked off on his fingers. "More towards you and Cam than Tori; so it makes sense."

He said it as if it was the easiest thing in the world and everyone else had already come to that conclusion and _Shane_ was just being thick and not figuring it out.

They were coming real close to losing that teamwork thing they worked so hard to get.

"That he was gay?" Shane growled, _growled_, before he could stop himself, and that got him a startled look from Hunter.

_Yeah, surprised I'm defending my friend?_

_You would be._

Hunter held up his hands in a placating way and tried to explain himself. "That he isn't as comfortable around women as he is around-"

"His friends?" Shane interrupted, because he wasn't sure how he would feel if Hunter finished that sentence. "He's just respecting Tori's space!"

Just like how _Shane_ respected Tori's space, and that didn't make him gay did it?

"And _your_ space doesn't need to be respected?" Hunter countered, raising his voice to match Shane's and suddenly they were in each others faces, glaring just like they had before the whole Bop-A-Roo thing. And then Hunter suddenly gave a sigh and plopped back against the wall, leaving Shane awkwardly squatting and glaring at nothing.

Gingerly, the red ranger resumed his old position just as Hunter sighed again and rubbed a hand across his face, mumbling, "I told Blake this was a bad idea."

Shane forgot he was mad for a moment to ask, "What was-?"

"This mess," Hunter interrupted, motioning to where an invisible mess would be. "Look," he started again, much calmer. "If you and him, or if he and Cam, or you and Cam _and_ Dustin have a _thing_ going on then I'm sorry and I'll stay out of it," he finished, holding his hands in surrender and Shane froze _again._

Since when was _he_ involved in this?

"We don't!" Shane sputtered, face heating up, and he would give anything for them to be rescued at this exact moment so that this conversation could be over and forgotten forever.

"They don't" he continued, thinking wildly about how _Cam_ of all people got pulled into this. "There is no _thing_ to be had here!" he finished, gesturing at where Hunter had indicated the _"mess"_ was and looking at the blond pleadingly because there was _no_ part of him that was enjoying this talk of theirs.

He tried to ignore the fact that he had started it.

Hunter looked up at him (and Shane didn't catch this at first because he was thinking about the idea of dating Cam _and_ Dustin and his subconscious kept congratulating him on being a pimp) slyly, before he asked, "You sure?"

"Yes!" Shane replied, trying to make this just end _(because he was not a pimp!)._

"Okay," Hunter said coolly, smile spreading across his face.

It appeared for the first time since they started this that he was actually letting this little "chat" of theirs stop. _That_ was when Shane got suspicious.

"Okay?" Shane mimicked. He was _not_ buying this.

"Okay," Hunter said again, and Shane thought- no, _knew_, that the crimson ranger was distinctly pleased with himself.

And though he knew he probably wouldn't enjoy it, Shane decided to ask anyway. Even if it felt like he was walking right into a trap.

"What do you mean by _'Okay'_?"

Hunter wagged a finger at the red ranger innocently, and Shane's theory was proven true. "I mean, if I'm not stepping on anybody toes…"

"You're going to ask Dustin out?" Shane asked, pitch rising slightly.

"I'm going to let him decide how he feels," the blond declared, daring Shane to tell him differently.

"He's not gay," Shane insisted, curling his hand into a fist.

Maybe this box was making them crazy, on top of the power-stopping thing.

There'd been weirder things.

The coy look was off Hunter's face in an instant, and replaced with one of cool fierceness.

"Maybe he's not," he started, rising to look down on Shane. "And maybe he is," he offered and Shane was about to interrupt him but Hunter wouldn't have any of that. "Ultimately though, that's _his _choice, not _yours_."

Shane felt his eyes widen in surprise and he tried to think of _something, anything_. "I'm not-"

"You're not comfortable with the idea," Hunter cut off, leaving no room for argument.

"I'm just not…not used to it," Shane admitted eventually, running a hand through his hair. "It's not something I think about."

Just like Dustin never thought about it.

That was right; Shane didn't know why he was worrying. Dustin would say no (when he found out it was a date) and they'd have a laugh about it later.

Hunter gave him an inspecting look.

Shane didn't like it, and struggled not to fidget. The crimson ranger was looking for things that weren't there.

"An unexplored option?" the blond offered, causing Shane to choke awkwardly on…air.

"I'm not gay," the red ranger insisted, and then he gave a look to let Hunter know that _he_ was leaving no room for argument.

He wasn't gay.

Hunter shrugged, unaffected by his declaration. "Then this shouldn't bother you."

Shane slumped back against the wall as they fell back into tense silence, one that he wasn't particularly bothered to break it anytime soon.

_It will be funny later_, he promised himself, glaring at the ceiling.

Dustin would say no.

_No worries._

Shane closed his eyes and tried blasting his favorite song again, as loud as he could, but it no longer had the power to distract him, and eventually he gave in to his racing thoughts.

This _shouldn_'t bother him.

But it did.

* * *

><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

* * *

><p>Endnotes:<p>

**On floors harassing Shane: **

Rogue: "Is the floor 'now done harassing Shane' or 'not done harassing him'?"

Me: "The floor is 'now done harassing Shane', because it has moved on to attack Hunter."

Rogue: *lightbulb* "Oh! I see now. I guess because it didn't say something like 'and Hunter was now the one to be smashed' I didn't get it the first time through."

Me: *giggles* "Floor smash!"

**On Shane's lacking grammar:**

Rogue: "Oh that Shane and his bad grammar! But we still love him anyway."

Me: *smiles* "Exactly, it's not like we love him for his brains, right?"

Rogue: *excited* "Brains are overrated anyway! I mean, come on! I'm not a zombie!"

*zombie voice* "_Braaaaiiinsss_!"

Me: "…I was actually referring to his sexy, sexy body, but I suppose yours works too."

**On hopelessly confusing ourselves:**

Rogue: "Artificial butter _and_ understanding."

Me: *smiles* "Yep, just a typical Tuesday."

Rogue: "Wait…it's Tuesday?"

Me: "Metaphorically, for them. You know, just another work day."

*thinks* "Unless you're joking."

"…I actually can't tell this time."

**On **_**im**_**proper italization:**

Rogue: "Would italics here be overkill?"

Me: "Not overkill, but not really necessary. I use those more for like, obvious thoughts, and this is more convincing narration."

"…okay, that doesn't really make sense, but I'm going to stick to my guns on this one."

Rogue: *cheerful* "Well, at least you can admit it makes no sense! Because I _thought_ it was a thought rather than narration. But what do I know? I don't even own a gun! See! See! I can make no sense too!"

Me: *narrows eyes* "This sounds like a challenge."

Rogue: *declaration* "Bring it, Paisley! I can out nonsense you any day!"

Me: "To the ship!"

*wages war*

**On shenanigan-like sentences:**

Rogue: "As it is, I just don't like the sentence. No offence. I mean, I'm sure it's a perfectly good sentence once you get to know it, but it's just not my type."

Me: "I promise you, it has a wonderfully charming personality. All of its friends think it's the cream of the crop."

"You're missing out brother."

Rogue: *breaks down* "Okay, okay, I'm just going to come out and say it. I'm already in a relationship with another sentence. Sorry!"

Me: "I knew it!"

**On semi-colon education:**

Rogue: "I'm allowing a comma instead of a semicolon somewhere in here. I wonder if you can spot it…"

Me: *takes a stab at it* "Please, please, _please_ say I got this right. There are only two commas."

*fingers crossed*

Rogue: "_Ding! Ding! Ding! _Yes! You win!"

Me: *fist pump* "Hooray learning!"

**On almost-face contacts:**

Rogue: "Awww, so close!"

Me: "And yet so stupidly, damn far."

Rogue: *shakes head in approval* "Amen, sister, amen."

**On multi-pairings:**

Rogue: "Shane and Cam _and_ Dustin!"

*ding ding ding* "Oh, sorry, wrong story. Though four would have been fun… The more the merrier, right?"

Me: "Actually, I think it would have been the more the messier. Just-Hunter, does not play well with others."

*wags finger* "Mess I say, _mess_."

Rogue: *waves hand* "Bah! It's called a challenge! Though now my head's stuck in the land of smut and I can't get it out…"

Me: *grins* "So, typical Tuesday?"

**On "He wasn't gay":**

Rogue: "Yet."

Me: "Give it time. The Author's crazy and people keep letting her use a keyboard."

Rogue: "We keep _trying_! But there are two types of crazy: The bad crazy, where you steal poor grandmothers' pantyhose, and then there's good crazy, where you make hot guys gay. You're good crazy!"

Me: "…I like how bad crazy involves grandmas and pantyhose. It feels appropriate."

*is now off celebrating good crazy*

"The other" count (chapter): 2

"The other" count (cumulative): 18

Also, my sister finally admitted that just stating "the other" was grammatically correct.

…I'm going to keep track anyway. *shrug* We've come this far.

Until next time.


	12. Confrontation

Chapter 12

Confrontation

I don't own Jekyll and Hyde, the musical

Takes place after "Pork Chopped"

* * *

><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

* * *

><p>In hindsight, Dustin probably should have figured out that, the moment they finished off the evil pig monster, whatever voodoo magic that had trapped Shane and Hunter in the evil popcorn container would probably wear off, sending them back to normal size. See, if he had thought of <em>that,<em> he wouldn't have insisted on keeping an eye on the container (and he wasn't the only one slipping because Tori and Blake had _let_ him do this, so hey, not _completely_ his fault) after they rescued it from General evil pig's special dimension. They had thought (he's not sure _why _but it made sense at the time) that maybe the pig and the container weren't related so they would just have to wait until they got back to Ninja Ops to get the red rangers out because of something or other, he hadn't been paying attention, but the point was that _he_ had been the one holding the thing during the zord battle.

So it wasn't until Dustin had his lap full of Shane and Hunter (who were as equally surprised as he was at this predicament) when he realized that those ideas were _clearly_ not the case and he kind of wished he had let Blake keep a handle on the container as he was outside fighting Marah and Kapri and a bunch of Kelzaks and _not_ inside a cockpit that was only built for one person.

His chair, the little fighter that it was, attempted to hold their weight for about .34 seconds (what a trooper) before it totally gave up and shot out from under the yellow ranger and the added weight of his friends slammed him into the ground.

"Cam," he wheezed, begging the tech as the other two tried to awkwardly (and failed) get a hold on something to get up, "teleport…please."

Luckily Cam was a super dude and teleported them back to Ninja Ops, where they were thrown to the ground once more. At least this time they got the benefit of having room to spread out. Shane and Hunter slid off him (which Dustin would be more confused about if the wind hadn't been knocked out of him) and they both quickly grab one of his arms, pulling him off of the ground.

Before he got to thanking them, there was another flash and suddenly Blake and Tori (who hadn't been grabbed in Cam's first teleportation because Dustin was just _so _much more important) appeared off to the side, in their snobby, completely fine states.

_Jerks_.

Dustin powered down and, before he bothered to check to see if Shane had gotten any injuries, launched himself at the red ranger, hugging him tightly in apology/just-because-he-wanted when he felt his shirt (and arms and _face_) get wet with this wet, slick, yellowy stuff. He pulled back to get a better look at Shane and Hunter to see that they were covered (and by covered he meant _covered_) in…butter?

He sniffed his hand tentatively (earning a giggle from Tori who he ignored because he was still a little miffed at her) to discover that yes, it was butter, and then he gave Shane another look over to see that, despite being covered in the liquid goodness, he was fine. The mechanic argued with himself for about a second before he gave into temptation and flung himself at Shane again (he had already got some on him anyway) and gave him a more thorough hug.

Mission debrief went smoothly after that (after they all got a few jests in at Shane and Hunter's expense) and Tori apologized to Shane (and then surprisingly to Hunter) and it looked like everything was going to be fine and they could all call it a day.

Cam, with his mad computer skills, begged to differ.

"They rescheduled the movie viewing," Cam announced shortly after typing…whatever he usually typed after debriefing.

"Really?" Blake asked, peaking over his shoulder. "For when?"

At this, Cam wasn't the only one to give him a questioning look.

Black shrugged. "We still have four tickets."

"That's right," Hunter replied, snapping (or attempting to snap, but the butter prevented it). "Kapri never took ours."

"It's in thirty minutes," Cam finished, frowning at the oil that Shane and Hunter were dripping all over the floor.

Poor guy, he would probably have to clean that up later.

_Rewiring the zords? Programming high tech computer thingys? Easy cake._

But make Cam clean and he is _one_ sad panda.

The sound of Blake's voice tore Dustin away from his thoughts. "Seriously?"

Hunter frowned and flicked some butter onto the floor, causing Cam's frown to deepen.

"Yeah," he droned, running a hand through his hair. "Not happening, I'll never be clean in time."

Shane furrowed his brows and Dustin could see him visibly restrain himself from wringing out his shirt. "It'll probably take four showers to get this stuff off."

"There are showers a level below;" Cam informed, standing up from his computer. "We have some spare clothes you can use if you would like."

There was another level below this?

Dustin supposed that made sense, like, the zord bays had to be gigantic so, yeah; there could be more secret Ninja Ops rooms. He would have to get Cam to give him a tour one day.

"That," Hunter started, smiling at the tech, "is the best idea I've heard all day."

Shane echoed his sentiment with a thumbs up and Cam nodded curtly.

"Follow me," he murmured, motioning to them, and they quickly disappeared down the hallway.

Blake turned his attention back to his girlfriend. "Tori, what do you say?" he asked, pulling the tickets out of his jacket pocket.

Tori opened her mouth to reply but Sensei answered for her, "Tori will have to decline your invitation; a punishment is still in order."

Because that was what happened when you used secret ninja powers for being in two places at once.

"Of course Sensei," Blake agreed, smiling sympathetically at the aqua ranger before looking over at Dustin. "You still in?"

Was he still in? What kind of question was that?

"Yeah!" Dustin shouted, unable to contain his excitement. "Hey, we should-" and then he remembered he wasn't the one with the tickets and amended, "I mean, can we-"

The navy ranger caught on to where he was going with this. "Yeah, go ahead and get Cam."

"Awesome," Dustin murmured, mostly to himself, before turning to go and find Cam and the others. He had no idea where the stairs that led down (or, more down) were but there couldn't be _that_ many places for him to try.

Ninja Ops wasn't that big, was it?

"And maybe you should get some new clothes too," Blake added, leaning casually against a wall while Tori got out a mop and bucket and began to clean up the remaining oil trail.

Ah, that was fatherly love right there, making it so Cam wouldn't have to clean it up.

Sweet.

"Clean is for sissies!" he shouted over his shoulder, after giving an attempted wink (he still hadn't gotten any better) at Sensei.

"Don't tell Hunter that!" Blake called after him, which was completely unnecessary because, if there was anyone that Dustin wouldn't want to make mad, it was Hunter.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

The two red rangers had attempted (after many sour looks from Cam) to contain their mess of oil to as small an area as possible, keeping their arms tight to their sides and, while they couldn't completely stop their dripping, Cam appreciated the sentiment. Of course he was barraged by more questions of _"What else does Ninja Ops have?"_ that he promptly ignored because he would introduce them to the excess areas when they needed them and not a moment before then.

Or until Dustin begged him for a tour, but after that the yellow ranger would explain it to them for him.

It was the principal of the thing that mattered.

Shane and Hunter paused midway through the locker room (the showers being located on its far side) in order to evaluate the area more thoroughly Cam assumed, which allowed him enough time to go locate two spare sets of clothes in their sizes along with the proper toiletries they would require. These things would be located (with the exception of the clothes which would be shelved separately) on some metal wracks adjacent and off to the side of the showers entrance.

_Towels_. He almost forgot he would have to get towels (they'd be by the clothes). To think, if he had left them unsupplied they would have to wander around themselves to find them and, knowing their luck (as displayed by today's actions), one of them would most likely slip and bang their head against something. Plus they would have to find new clothes, as the one's he had supplied would be soaking wet, unless some random alteration of their mental status occurred and they resolved to locate the towels naked.

The unanticipated shift in thought caught Cam completely by surprise and fortunately the two reds were too occupied staking claims on shower stalls to notice him abruptly jerk his head up in reaction, banging it against the shelf above him as he sought out shampoo. He was in conflict with himself whether to give into his inherent reaction (the physical demand) and rub the tender spot, or to comply with his second option (demanded by his brain) and smack his head against the shelf a couple more times in a frivolous attempt to make the mental images of naked, dripping wet Shane and Hunter go away.

His choice was taken from him by the sounds of footsteps behind him. The sight, while not beheld by the others, was certainly heard, so Cam gave into rubbing his head as they (he assumed but could confirm this later if he looked at his cameras...no, no cameras, he did not want to look at cameras, yes, confirmation was unimportant) peered curiously at his back.

"You okay Cam?" Shane called out behind him, concern evident in his voice.

_No, I am not fine…I'm just going crazy_.

"Yeah…" he croaked, disregarding his inner turmoil. "I uh…" (_What was it that Shane hated?)_ If he could get some sympathy he would be fine_,_ "saw a spider," he finished, hoping he had gotten it right.

The footsteps drew closer (both sets) and he scrambled to explain the sudden disappearance of the spider. "It's…gone now."

Cam Watanabe, your acting is genius.

_Please, just be so sick of being dirty that you let this go._

He could practically hear Hunter's shrug. "Didn't pick you for a spider man."

Now would be an appropriate time to change the subject.

"Here's shampoo and soap," he dictated coldly, then had to fight a wince at his defensive tone. He thrust the indicated items at the two rangers and turned away again, this time searching for the other necessities. "I'll bring you your clothes and _towels_," he was proud of how he didn't choke on the word, "when I find them."

"…Okay Cam," Shane replied, his meager concern outweighed by exhaustion and a desperate need for cleanliness.

Cam kept his attention fixed on finding new clothes as their footsteps echoed away from him. Once he heard the sound of shower curtains sliding and water running he let out the breath of air he had been holding in and leaned his head against the cool metal of the racks. He wasn't an optimist, he was too realistic to ever be one, but he had been vainly hoping that his…quandary would diminish and eventually alleviate itself in time. Given the stress and ample distractions provided by his job this presumption was one with great merit.

However, being that he _was_ himself and the universe was still a sick and cruel creature, the…thoughts hadn't gone away so much as they had intensified and, to add to the world-inflicted torture, they had taken a definite _turn_ in nature. He should have seen it coming, but he had been so engaged in denial that this shift had caught him completely off guard and, in all honesty, he wasn't sure what to do about it.

Self loathing didn't seem to cut it anymore.

What had began as what he presumed was…physical comfort and establishing stronger emotional connections (friendship, teamwork, and the whole like) with the others, had somehow warped itself into a much darker, depraved sort of thing. He had thought it was harmless and par for the course, but his subconscious was…disagreeing with him. To add to this (and this was something he _was_ going to completely disregard for the moment because he could only focus on _so_ much at once, but then again, his mind was a twisted one) these…feelings, were only directed towards his…male friends.

Perhaps it was because Tori was clearly not interested and his mind was respecting that, but that didn't stop the fact that he kept seeing the others in a…sexual nature.

Odd thoughts that kept popping into his mind during completely harmless conversations, or while he was working on a project, or while he was meditating and would catch him off guard and render him effectively useless for the following ten minutes, in which he would gather himself and attempt to pile on as much detestation for himself as he could manage in order to get back to functioning properly. He had yet to act on any of these thoughts (in any way, shape, or form because the idea of it made him sick), but hatred was only going to work for so long. Eventually he was going to have to work this out himself without affecting his duties or damaging the rest of the team.

It was simple. He was a teenage male. Teenage males were hormonal. This was normal; there was no reason for him to freak out.

But was it just hormones?

Logically it made sense. It was a natural stage to go through in life; and he would just have to learn to live with it.

So how should he…um…deal with it?

Objectifying his friends, even in his mind, was so..._beyond_ wrong. But what if it wasn't just hormones and-

What if-

Time seemed to stop as he gathered two hoodies out of a drawer.

He felt numb…

_What if he liked guys?_

…And oddly ill.

_Was that bad?_

This was California. It was accepting here. His father would still love him if he-

Did he like guys?

The only girl they had around was Tori and she was taken but-

…

He had never taken interest in girls before, but then again, there had never been any around that weren't in training.

He was overreacting; he didn't feel any attraction because he hadn't spent enough time with the opposite sex to get comfortable with them, so he just hadn't considered it an…idea.

...

Maybe he should use that moderate amount of intelligence he had and get a clue.

He had sexual thoughts about guys.

He was…_is_…_attracted_ to guys.

…

When a guy liked other guys, what did that make him?

…

_You know the answer to this one Cam._

He was gay.

He felt lightheaded.

…

…okay, still breathing.

_I'm okay._

Great.

…now what?

…

Towels, they needed towels.

_What about-?_

One discovery at a time.

He couldn't…he could only handle _so_ much.

Towels.

And clothes.

They needed clothes or else-

_Damn it._

It was going to be a long day.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Cam!"

Okay, Dustin would level with himself; wandering around aimlessly in hopes of catching up _hadn't_ been the greatest of plans. He could admit that now. Sure, the yellow ranger had been able to find the stairs, but they went down a lot further than he thought they would and now he wasn't sure if he was anywhere near where the showers were or if he was somehow lost in the Zordbay.

"Cam!"

"Dustin?"

Sweet father of ice cream, it was Cam.

Dustin whipped his head to the right, grin spreading across his face as he saw Cam exit a room that was a couple doors down from where he was.

"Cam! Dude, you saved me!" he cheered, bounding over to the green-clothed tech and almost forgetting he was covered in oil but, remembering at the last second. He stopped his hug and settled on an enthusiastic wave. "I got _so_ lost."

"I can see that," Cam droned tersely, and it was so…different (like from back when they were just getting started as rangers and they might as well be bugs underneath his feet) that Dustin almost went to a fighting position because this was not the Cam he was talking to ten minutes ago.

What happened? Did Shane and Hunter start another fight or something?

His fault. If he had just kept a better handle on the bucket they wouldn't have gotten trapped and then they wouldn't have fought and _then_ Cam wouldn't have gone into silent-angry mode.

Dustin needed to fix this.

Oil or no, he was going to give Cam a hug and he was about to put this plan into action when the other interrupted him. "Did you need something?"

This time his tone (while not completely relaxed) was a lot friendlier, and most of the tension that Dustin hadn't realized had gathered in his shoulders disappeared.

The mechanic shifted his weight side-to-side awkwardly, jarred by the other's change of mood.

"Blake invited us to go see the movie; I came to get you." He looked down at himself with a frown. "And maybe see if I could borrow a shirt."

He looked at the tech expectantly, trying to judge his reaction. Was he going to say no? Was talking bad today? Did they have to start over? Did-

"Okay," Cam interrupted after taking a deep breath, "follow me."

He left before Dustin had a chance to reply and the yellow ranger dutifully trailed behind him and entered a…locker room.

Ninja locker room.

Awesome.

He followed Cam down a couple of isles of lockers and eventually they ended up by a set of drawers, from which Cam pulled out a plain black shirt.

_Eh, black. _

But it was better than what he had.

Dustin grabbed the bottom of his shirt and peeled it over his head, the oil wanting to make it stay on. Well, he had fought an evil pig from space today and _won_, so he wasn't going to let a little butter flavoring boss him around. With a grunt he pulled the shirt off, whipping it over his head and looking for a clean spot to wipe his face off. A cough brought his attention back to Cam, who was staring intently at the wall for some odd reason, and offering out a towel in one of his hands.

Towel, much better.

Dustin accepted the gift happily, and a gesture to a nearby laundry basket from Cam told Dustin where his soiled shirt needed to go.

_Ahh, it's everywhere_.

It must really suck to be Shane and Hunter right now, because he had only hugged Shane for like, five seconds, and he had a ridiculous amount of oil on him. Those guys must be _soaked._

He patted himself down and did a quick go over.

Face?

Check.

Torso?

Check.

Anything else?

Back, he still had some on his back from when Shane hugged him. He managed (with his skills) to get most of it off, but there was still that _one_ spot on he couldn't quite reach.

"Cam?" he asked, earning a hum in response but, when he looked over, his friend was still staring at the wall.

Must be _real_ interesting.

"Could you get my back?" he continued and then attempted to point to the spot and ridiculously failed because it was _that _spot.

Cam hesitated briefly before grabbing the towel. "S-Sure," he mumbled, and Dustin turned around so he could get the allusive butter.

He almost didn't feel Cam's first attempt, his touch was so light, like he was barely trying to touch him.

Dude it was like, ninja feather training or something. Like, _"light as a feather"._

So cool. Cam would have to let him try one day. However, light wasn't going to cut it if the oil was like the stuff he had on his face.

"Harder Cam, this stuff doesn't come off easy."

The towel stilled, then swept across his back again with a force of about five feathers.

_Not cutting it Cam._

"Seriously Cam, you have to do it harder," he lectured, surprised that the other teen hadn't figured this out yet.

It was so light. What, did he not have the strength to-?

Was he sick?

Had he suddenly become ill?

He had been acting weird. Like, _really_ weird.

What if he had been sick the whole time and Dustin just hadn't noticed because, when they where tracking down Shane and Hunter, he had been so worried. And Cam hadn't said anything because he was too busy finding them and holding _Dustin_ together, but it was finally getting _so_ bad that maybe right now he was about to pass out and here Dustin was demanding he do physical labor when he was really becoming sick, and he was the worst friend ever but right now he shouldn't be focusing on _that_, he should be focusing on _Cam_ and maybe calling a doctor.

"Cam!" he exclaimed (because that was how all _that_ came out) and, instead of letting his concerns avalanche out of him, he whipped around quickly and felt for his friend's head (for fever) and pulled the towel out of his hand because getting clean had suddenly become very unimportant.

Cam jerked backward oddly (passing out?) and tripped into the set of metal racks behind him and Dustin felt even worse than before because _see,_ Cam totally was just standing on the last of his strength and the yellow ranger should have figured that out sooner and now it looked like the metal rack/thing was angry. It tilted forward precariously but Dustin was quick and firmly took a hold of Cam's arm and yanked him towards his chest just as it came tumbling to the ground and, while _they_ might still have tumbled to the ground, at least Cam didn't have a rack of shampoo and soap on top of him.

For the second time that day Dustin landed on his back with another person on top of him, but this time he gently (as he could manage) rolled Cam off of him, scrambling to his knees quickly and resting his hand on Cam's forehead. He was so focused on Cam (who had a dazed look on his face from the lightheadedness) that he almost missed Shane and Hunter approaching, part oily, part sudsy (Hunter still had shampoo in his hair) but all wet and wrapped in towels not two feet away.

"What happened?" Shane asked, moving over to join him while Hunter inspected the attacking wall rack. "What's wrong?"

"Cam's sick," Dustin replied, taking the shirt Cam had given him and folding it into an odd pillow before shoving it under his head.

"I'm not sick," Cam coughed out awkwardly, voice cracking, and Hunter and Shane spared him a disbelieving glance before moving into action.

Hunter brought his morpher (he must have snagged it before exiting the shower) to his lips and uttered a few low sentences into it. Shane rubbed his hands on his towel real quick before placing his hand on Cam's forehead in place of Dustin's, feeling for himself. Cam shivered at the action (was he cold?) and Dustin looked around furiously before he remembered where the towels were and quickly retrieved a few to keep the other teen warm.

"He was acting weird earlier. I should have seen it," Shane mumbled (mostly to himself) before helping Dustin with the towels. Cam tried to push their hands away and attempted to sit up, but they tag-teamed him and gently pushed him back to the ground.

With the entry of the red rangers, Dustin had forgotten about checking Cam's pulse and, seeing as Shane was busy with his head, the yellow ranger went ahead and did it the old fashioned way, laying his head on the others chest to listen to his heart. It was beating really quickly, but he thought _his_ heart beat really quickly so he laid a hand on his chest for comparison.

Yep, definitely faster than normal.

"I'm fine," Cam insisted, tone strained, and Dustin couldn't help but wonder who he was kidding. The tech was hot, and his face was all red, and his heart was beating like crazy. He had almost fainted before so it was clear he wasn't okay so why was he trying to fight it?

"Just let us help," Dustin begged quietly, reaching over to squeeze Cam's hand.

He helped them; it was time to return the favor.

"Tori and Blake are on their way," Hunter informed them while moving to get closer, but staying far enough away from Cam so he wouldn't feel crowded.

Crowded, right.

The last thing they needed was to freak him out.

"We'll uh-" Dustin began; unaware of the red's judging eyes, "we'll take him to his room, and you guys can finish your showers."

"We'll go back when they get here," Hunter confirmed, sharing a look with Shane.

Their team support needed them; everything else could wait.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

Somewhere between handing out toiletries and cleaning Dustin's back, Cam had lost complete control of the situation.

Odd thing; he wasn't sure how it happened.

He was in the middle of doing his best to clean Dustin while doing as little touching as possible, because he had had enough stress today (and after the strip show earlier he didn't want to do anything he might regret) and the only thing he wanted was a cup of hot chocolate and some sleep and he figured it was better to play it safe when the yellow ranger had very suddenly whipped around, causing the tech to stumble backwards so he could maintain his no-touching rule when he bumped into the rack behind him (that hadn't been as balanced as he would have liked it) and was almost trapped underneath it. Luckily, Dustin had reacted quicker than the tech had and saved him from his fate, successfully pulling him out of the way.

He had gone from completely no contact to complete full body contact in less than five seconds. The precious moments he wasted being shocked by this Dustin took advantage of and maneuvered him onto his back and leaned over him, staring him in the eyes.

_Innocent thoughts._

_Innocent thoughts._

_Innocent thoughts._

He chanted over and over, because this was _Dustin,_ and while he may be crafty, he was legitimately concerned about something. Before Cam could adjust to what had happened and get up, Hunter and Shane came into view dripping wet in nothing but towels and his thoughts from earlier come back full force. The only thing he wanted then more than a quick and sudden death was the power of invisibility.

It was settled, the world hated him.

This was all followed by a very pathetic attempt to assure them that he was okay, but before he could communicate this, Hunter was calling Blake and Tori and Shane and Dustin were touching him a lot more than he wanted them to and, by the time the others came and moved him to his room, he was actually beginning to feel sick.

In their defense, given the way he had been acting, sickness wasn't a bad conclusion to draw. He only wished Dustin had kept it to himself so he wouldn't have ended up with everyone focused on him.

Except for the reds, who, for the moment, were finishing their shower.

Naked.

And wet.

And _naked_.

If he had not already been lying down, he would most definitely need to.

At least Dustin finally put on a shirt. With days like this, sometimes it was the little things that helped.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

Shane glanced right and measured how much shampoo he had left, and figured he had a few more washes remaining before he would have to go to a new bottle. Hopefully that wouldn't have to happen but, based on his current progress, it was definitely becoming a possibility. On the bright side, he knew where all the shampoo was now. The sight of discarded bottles chaotically strewn about the floor next to an overturned shelf unit had implanted itself in his mind, coming second only to the sight of Cam passed out on the floor.

Blake, Tori, and Dustin were with him now and, if Shane hadn't been so rudely coated by General Pig Face, he would be with them. They were just as capable with the sick as he was, but it was _his_ team and he should be there, watching after Cam, not here, showering.

Incapacitated by butter.

Not one of his finest moments.

"He'll be fine, stop worrying about it."

Shane resisted the urge to glare in Hunter's direction, keeping his gaze firmly fixed to the wall in front of him. He knew Cam was in good hands. That didn't have to make him happy about not being there.

"I can hear you glaring." Hunter's joking voice echoed throughout the room.

Shane glared harder at his wall. "I'm not glaring," he protested, almost growling, and rubbed his shoulder with increased ferocity. The sooner this was done the sooner he was out of here.

The other teen let out a soft chuckle. "Sure you're not."

Shane rubbed his shoulder harder. "The others' got this."

"Doesn't make you any less frustrated," Hunter insisted, causing Shane to pause and look right towards the sound of the voice. "I know I am," the voice continued, almost to himself. Shane slowed down and lightened his touch, his shoulder starting to burn. "I think he might have overworked himself," Hunter offered, louder.

If this was an attempt at a peace offering Hunter was doing a really suckish job of it.

"Should've kept a better eye on him," Shane grumbled, the words escaping before he could think about them. He hissed softly and curled his fists, hoping Hunter wouldn't comment on it.

The crimson ranger was not so obliging. "If Cam didn't want you to notice, you wouldn't notice."

The argument was so accurate that Shane was struck still; to think, in such little time Hunter had come to understand them so well simply through observation.

For a reason he refused, to address that idea filled his stomach with dread because, if he was so right about _that_, he could be right about-

"…yeah," Shane mumbled in reply, mind completely abandoning their topic of conversation. He settled for concentrating on cleaning out the last of the shampoo from his hair, tilting his head forward to allow the spray to wash whatever trace amounts of filth it could get.

Hunter, assuming he had won that exchange, decided to move on.

"So," he started, clearing his throat, "Dustin was freaked out."

Shane grit his teeth in frustration. This new subject was not helping his state of mind.

"It's Dustin," he protested, controlling his desire to growl. "He'd do the same for you."

And Tori, and him, and Blake, and Sensei, and a cat in a pet store.

Okay, maybe not the cat, but everyone else was definitely game. It was Dustin; he cared about his friends. He wasn't secretly in love with Cam.

He would have told Shane.

And he wasn't gay. _Cam_ wasn't gay.

They were all just friends.

_Why were they still talking about this?_

The conversation that had started earlier in the popcorn container hadn't so much as ended as taken multiple time outs to have _other _conversations or awkward pauses. Shane was all for it coming to a close, but Hunter was always one to disagree.

"Would he?" Hunter baited. "As I recall _you_ were the one he hugged when we got back."

In spite of being covered in butter.

"We're best friends," Shane insisted, reaching forward and turning up the heat. Maybe he would steal some of Hunter's. He ran a lazy hand through his hair (no, he had not gotten all the oil) and with a sigh reached for the shampoo again, pouring a sizeable amount into his hand.

"Fair enough," Hunter replied casually, though by his tone he was clearly unconvinced.

Shane, unable to restrain himself, growled, "We're not-"

"I know," Hunter interrupted (and Shane angrily noted that he sounded patient). "But you have to admit-"

"I don't _have_ to admit anything. There's nothing there, so lay off!" he shouted, whirling to his right (as though he or Hunter could look through walls) and braced himself for a smart response. When he was met with silence he shifted his weight and hesitantly asked, "What?"

Hunter's reply was simply one word. "Defensive."

What? No, no, he was not-

_Ugh!_

There was no dealing with this guy; he was just freaking delusional.

"I'm not-" he began; trying to figure out the right words to properly express this. "You know-" he tried again, but couldn't think of the rest. He sighed, placing his spare hand against his head as he noticed that, in his anger, he had lost all the shampoo he had gathered, "Just forget it."

_Please, please just drop it._

He reached for the bottle once more, one portion closer to being empty, and refilled his hand, this time being careful to make sure it all made its way to his hair.

Hunter (thankfully) gave him a few minutes of quiet while he re-lathered his hair and, just when he was getting comfortable, the blond broke it. "I'm trying to help you."

_Help me, right._

Shane frowned and turned his back to the shower nozzle, massaging his hair to rinse out all the dirt and oil, tilting his head back so none got in his eyes.

He closed his eyes for good measure. "There's nothing to help," he replied, intending to stay calm, intending to leave it there, but all the stress from the day was starting to wear down on him and a request he hadn't intended to make escaped from his mouth, "Just leave him alone."

The silence that followed made him think that Hunter had elected to start ignoring him, but apparently he was just gathering his thoughts. "You're not his keeper," he murmured, his tone warning.

_I'm not his keeper._

Who had known him longer? Who had _always_ looked out for him? Who _always_ did his best to help him, to protect him? That's right, Shane did, and while that didn't make him Dustin's "keeper", it _did_ make him someone to be reckoned with.

If Hunter wanted to get his game face on, Shane could too.

"I mean it," he repeated, copying Hunter's air. "You'll just confuse him."

Dustin _wasn't_ dumb, but this…this had the old Thunder rangers written all over it. The manipulating, the lying-

Shane wouldn't let that happen again.

"Confuse him?" Hunter echoed, skepticism clear in his voice. "Do you even listen to yourself?"

Shane let that remark slide off him, refusing to rise to the bait.

"Right now he's _happy_," he said, emphasizing that last part, "and the only thing you're going to do-"

"What?" Hunter interrupted, and Shane could tell by the way his voice reverberated off the walls that he was facing the metal separator between their stalls, "I'm going to brainwash him?"

Shane wretched his head out from under the water, turning to face the divider. "He's going to believe you!"

His shout rang into a tense stillness and, in spite of the fact they were both now talking at a stationary object and couldn't see each other, it somehow made _him_ feel more empowered in the conversation.

"…Believe what?" Hunter asked after a pause.

Shane took a step forward and leaned against the slick metal surface.

"Everything you told _me_," he explained softly, because if he raised his voice he was going to lose it, "You're going to tell _him_," he continued slowly, just so he could be clear, "But unlike me, _he's_ going to believe you-"

"So unlike you," Hunter cut in, "he's going to listen."

Shane shook his head frantically before resting it in his hands, "He's going to trust you and, at the end of it when it turns out you're wrong, and you're _going_ to be wrong, you'll have just caused him a lot of unnecessary stress." This wasn't something he needed to think about. "Just leave him alone."

_Just leave him alone so he could be happy._

Shane couldn't admit it out loud, if this was all mildly freaking _him_ out, the odds that Dustin was going to take it well were doubtful.

White foam washed down the drain.

"How are you so sure of this?" Hunter asked; his back now to the separator by the sound of it. A small 'thunk' echoed as he rested his head against it.

"I'm just trying to protect my friend," he replied, desperately trying to explain his concern. "I'm not going to let you hurt him just because you think-"

"What reality do you live in?" Hunter had turned to face the divider again, "Because right now I kind've want to visit it so I can get a glimpse of how backwards everything is," he finished sarcastically and, if they weren't both naked, Shane would've jumped the divider and punched him out of sheer frustration.

"Why won't you just drop this?" he asked instead, smacking the cool metal in aggravation.

"Why does this scare you so much?" Hunter shot back instead of answering. "Would it really be that bad?" Before Shane could think of a response, he continued. "Is your world so delicately balanced that, if just _one_ thing changes, your entire existence will crumble down around you? News flash Shane, change _isn't _bad."

Shane swallowed before replying softly, "This isn't about me."

It _wasn't._

"This is _entirely_ about you," Hunter countered. "You're afraid that if there's the slightest chance that _you're _wrong, you won't be able to handle it," he finished quietly in a tone that clearly left no room for argument.

That might be the case with other people, but Shane wasn't about to give up now.

Hunter wasn't finished though. "Or maybe you're just in denial."

Shane glared at where he thought the blond's head might be. "I told you-"

"You'll have to excuse my poor listening skills; I picked them up from my fearless leader."

Forget this. Forget this, forget it, just-

This wasn't getting them anywhere.

Shane snapped his mouth shut, refusing to go any further. Hunter couldn't advance the conversation if he refused to play.

Somehow the crimson ranger sensed that line and didn't bother trying to goad him again, content with what he must have perceived as progress.

Progress, right.

And Shane would be stuck with this guy until they finished saving the world.

Fan-freaking-_tastic_.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

The movies were completely forgotten and, as it was a Saturday, the entire team spent the night (thankfully not in his room or he would have lost it) to make sure Cam was okay.

The tech wasn't sure how they nominated who would do what, but at the end of the day it was Dustin who was cuddled (_cuddled)_ into his side (for warmth, and in case he needed anything he insisted) and despite all the excess touching and how it was achieved, Cam couldn't find it in himself to be mad, at them or at himself, and with all the stress of the day piling up on him he just decided to go with it, looping an arm around the yellow ranger while staring into the ceiling, wondering what it would be like if this were every night, what it would be like to have someone _want_ to be by him _every_ night.

But that was just a delusional dream.

There was no way Dustin was gay.

Cam was getting ahead of himself, he had only discovered these feelings recently and who was he to judge? Besides, he really shouldn't be _thinking_ about other people when he's so messed up himself but-

_Realistic, lets be realistic._

Dustin was friendly but he wasn't...gay. Cam didn't allow himself to feel anything about that. It was all simply too much. He just _blocked _it out and focused on the body breathing next to him, pretending for the night that everything was okay.

It wasn't, but…for this moment, he would be okay.

He would freak out tomorrow.

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><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

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><p>Endnotes:<p>

I interrupt our normally scheduled endnotes for, like, actual endnotes. They happen sometimes, I think.

Well, this itself would be evidence of that, so…yes.

There is news, friends! I have accumulated yet another beta reader (and soon I shall have an army, and we will run around wearing matching bandanas and rocking out to the power rangers theme, as befits an army, of _awesome_).

Basically, the real vampire (super scholar) has decided to join in on the fun. Strange thing, for the most part she and Rogue commented on different things (except when their minds collided in a "No Paisley, stop misusing grammar, no, not like that-here, I shall school you with my brain-skills". And then brain-skill schooling commenced).

Rogue has suggested I open up the floor to Q and A, so…shower scene, anyone have feelings on this? For those of you familiar with the first run-through of AM, that was actually my first try at ch 19 that ultimately got scrapped. I figured, eh, why not?

Speaking of whom, Rogue is completely responsible for the Cam's segue into the red's scene after he loses control of the situation. Yep, everything from, "_Except for the reds, who, for the moment, were finishing their shower"_ down to the scenebreak was him.

I was incredibly disappointed when I figured out I had _not_ written that part. : (

...okay, this image manager thing, this is new, yes? To spare myself from overthinking, do you guys have any suggestions for an icon I could make for this story? Like, I dunno, an item or symbol or something that would best represent it?

Just, food for thought.

"The other" count (chapter): 3

"The other" count (cumulative): 21

Until next time.


	13. Schadenfreude

Chapter 13

**Schadenfreude**

I don't own Avenue Q.

Much love to Rogue Ranger and the real vampire for being my wonderful and hard-working beta readers! Your input is highly valued. Always : )

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><p>Cam wasn't a morning person.<p>

It was, perhaps, his greatest weakness, but taking into consideration his numerous and much more suitable to world-saving strengths, he had managed to become okay with it.

This was why, for the first few minutes of his semi-consciousness, he simply appreciated the warmth and comfort of the extra body in his bed as opposed to processing _why_ it was there, leaving him quite unperturbed with his circumstances which, fully conscious, was something he would _not_ have done. There was the possibility that he _may_ have drifted into a light doze after that, and when he was once more dragged unwillingly from his peaceful slumber, Cam surmised that he should get a better understanding of his surrounds. He gently rolled his head to the side so he could figure out what god-forsaken hour it was.

Nine…was it an eight? No, it was a nine.

He squinted harder.

Nine…and that _could_ be a four and then a three.

He shut his eyes and plopped his head back against the pillow, exhausted by his excursion. So it could quite possibly be 9:43 (unless he imagined the extra bits on the four and it was 9:13), but either way he should probably get moving so he could get to his lab at a time that he could consider decent.

It wasn't until he was giving himself his mental motivation speech to make such a gargantuan effort that he felt something shift beside him, and he finally took note of the body that was draped half across him, the arm wrapped around his waist, the head pressed into his neck, and the legs that had determined _his_ legs were going to be their bestest-best friends and set forth to achieve this by initiating as much contact as possible.

Suffice to say he had very little trouble waking up once this understanding dawned on him.

He didn't immediately initiate crisis mode (though he _was_ panicking), so his mind entered a state of frenzy where he attempted to get a grasp on the events that led to his predicament but it still wasn't up to a normal state of function. Like a deer caught in the headlights he froze, as though stilling himself would make the other person (who was absolutely male, he realized in horror and then was distraught when he couldn't remember the reason _why_ he was in horror) believe he had suddenly vanished and therefore make themselves scarce. His efforts were met by the other's head shifting, and he could feel the lightest touch of lips brush against his neck.

He stopped breathing, and thankfully the head kept moving, shifting back down so that it was buried against his chest.

_Breathe_, he reminded himself, remembering how _that_ was a very important function, and he shakily released the air he had been holding in, desperate to be quiet.

What had happened last night?

He didn't want to think it but he knew he had to check.

Clothes?

...

Yes, they both had clothes on.

Good, that wasn't something Cam was prepared to freak out about yet.

His room was pitch black, the benefits to living in what was essentially an underground cave, so the only source of light he had was the glow emitting from his clock. There would be no visual confirmation then. He would have to outsource this to his other senses to deduce who was currently sharing his bed.

The hair of the mystery person tickled against his chin, feeling soft and…curly.

Dustin. It was Dustin.

_Why was Dustin here?_

He- _Dustin_ shifted again, pulling his arm back towards his body and bringing it to rest curled by his side, fisting in Cam's shirt.

And how had he become the yellow ranger's teddy bear?

Once he applied all his concentration to the matter, the events from last night flashed through his mind: the declaration of illness, the orders of bed rest, Dustin's determination to wait it out with him all came back, along with select memories that had led him to his initial state of agitation.

_That_ certain recollection made him all the more desperate to escape Dustin's hold, to avoid not only the embarrassment of their position (though the yellow ranger was likely to remain oblivious to this) but to avoid…_other_ problems that might arise.

Surprisingly, the choking sound that erupted from his body at that thought did not wake his bed fellow.

Cam couldn't decide if that was lucky or not so he opted to push aside his emotional distress and center his attention on Dustin's…non reaction. In retrospect, the yellow ranger must be as exhausted as he was. Waking him wasn't an option. At least, not yet. Cam would simply have to extract himself from the situation.

Which was easier said than done.

He had heard from Shane (a report he'd recieved after Dustin's run-in with Flora Bendicus's pollen) and had even witnessed himself that the yellow ranger had an affinity to swaddling himself in blankets for warmth when he was ill, and it appeared that he had taken it upon himself to reenact those conditions for Cam, leaving the tech hopelessly wrapped in excess material.

Someone, somewhere out there, was laughing at him.

He could feel it.

He _would _have simply pulled himself to the head of the bed (effectively circumnavigating the wraps), but first he had to release his leg from Dustin's strangle hold. He would turn on his side and pull his leg back, and not only would that liberate his leg but it would also be the easiest and gentlest way to maneuver Dustin onto the bed without waking him.

Plan in mind, Cam carefully moved his arm (the one Dustin had snuggled under) to a place where it would have a firm hold on his back and began to turn onto his side, gently lowering the other ranger off of him.

Looking back on it, the mistake he had made here was assuming that Dustin would remain unresponsive (as he had to verbal stimuli), so Cam hadn't taken into account the idea that the curly-haired teen would react subconsciously, and instead of achieving _less_ contact with Dustin, Cam achieved _more_, as the yellow ranger moved to fling his arm around the tech again and pulled forward, capturing _both_ of Cam's legs and pushing his face against his neck, and Cam hated how distinctly _aware_ he was of the lips that rested on his throat, partially blocked by the collar of his shirt.

The gulp that followed did little to help matters.

At the moment, Cam wasn't feeling much like the smart one.

_Warmth_, he thought, gritting his teeth, _he has to be doing this for warmth._

_Don't think about it, don't think about it, just **don't** think about it. Figure out how to get out of this; freak out later. And for goodness sake don't think about** how nice it feels.**_

_Just **don't** go there._

Cam pulled back as far as he could from the other teen's hold and soon became aware that he was at the edge of the bed and, were it not for the blanket tangle death trap he'd become victim to, he could have easily just wrenched Dustin off of him and made a mad dash for the door, denying any knowledge of this ordeal if ever asked about it.

It was the coward's way out, but it was becoming his only option.

"…Warm," Dustin murmured, and Cam sharply exhaled at the warm breath ghosting across his neck.

After this day he would sleep with a knife, and that way if any blankets even _thought_ about messing with him he would dice them into so many pieces the producers of Iron Chef would be amazed.

Dustin shifted again, leg pressing firmly in between Cam's and if he didn't stop soon there would be no room left to imagine the space between them and-

Cam jerked his legs backward, which was a stupid move because it pushed them over the edge of the bed and dragged the rest of him down with them, and the blankets being the demons from hell that they were dragged Dustin down on top of _him,_ and the situation he had been so set on sneaking out of with _whatever_ amount of ninja stealth he had kind of blew up in his face. Dustin might be a heavy sleeper, but there was no part of his ranger-conditioned body that wouldn't react to this. Were it not for his growing hysteria, Cam would have been impressed by the amount of thinking he had managed to get in between falling and hitting the floor.

"_Uh_," he exhaled, head rebounding off the very solid ground while he attempted to ignore the pressing dead weight that was slowly becoming un-dead weight on top of him.

Unlike Cam, Dustin immediately shot into action; but similarly to Cam, the blankets didn't like him either, and his attempt to jump up somehow jerked Cam's leg to the side, knocking the yellow ranger's legs out from under him and collapsing Dustin back onto the tech's chest. The yellow ranger would not be subdued so easily, and squirmed his way forward, shifting until he straddled the tech's waist, and was to busy feeling the sides of the other's head to notice Cam's immediate stillness.

"_Cam_!" He whispered loudly; face hovering absurdly close to Cam's, as though he could see him in the dark.

"Cam!" he whispered again when he received no reaction, his head moving so that he was staring at the side of the tech's face (for whatever reason Cam wasn't sure; he was only grateful for the distance), and one of the hands that had been steadying the yellow rangers upper body migrated to the side of Cam's face, slowly slipping up to his forehead. This time, Cam repressed his trembling (no small feat) so as to avoid being labeled "sick" once more.

He couldn't take this much attention.

"I'm fine Dustin," he assured him, gently pulling the hand away. "We just got…tangled up."

Twisting movement from above preceded a couple delicate pulls on the blankets swathed around them, and Dustin let out a grunt in frustration.

"Yep, looks like it. Gimme a sec," he announced, and before Cam could ask him about his plan, Dustin had ducked down again, lying on him and tucking and pulling and working his blanket mastery charm to finagle them out. For peace of mind Cam closed his eyes and rested his head against the floor, blocking out Dustin's actions and focusing on the work he needed to complete today. Power disk modifications…he could scan the zords again (it was really unnecessary but it never hurt to be thorough)…meditation….meditation…lunch…after that maybe a little more meditation…and if that didn't work he could lock himself in the freezer for a few hours; maybe a little hypothermia would distract him.

After a few minutes of eternity, Dustin threw off the last blanket and cheerfully hopped off him, helping him sit up. "Sorry man, me and blankets…"

"It's okay Dustin," Cam soothed, reaching forward to pat what he thought was the others arm, and ending up brushing the base of his skull. He should've pulled back after that, immediately, because this right here was crossing a line, but he had come so far today (and he hadn't even been _awake_ that long) so he gave in to himself and tangled his fingers in the curly hair for just a moment before pulling back.

He pressed his arm against his chest to try and stop the shaking.

Bless the darkness for its camouflage.

"I…I was aiming for your arm," he explained truthfully, swallowing even though his throat was dry.

It was stupid. He was stupid. He was gay but that didn't give him the right to-

After an eternity of silence (but what was most likely a few seconds) Dustin emitted a laugh that was music to his ears.

"I know dude," he chirped, and he reached over and unlike Cam, actually managed to find his arm. "It's _so_ dark."

"Yeah," was all Cam could think of to whisper in reply. That must have been enough to satisfy Dustin because the next thing he knew he heard the yellow ranger on the move, padding across the room. A few seconds later the light was on, and Cam raised his hand to block out the invading brightness.

Once Cam's eyes adjusted, he looked up to find Dustin crouched in front of him.

"I feel like a vampire," the curly-haired teen exclaimed. "Like, _"nooo, light_"" he hissed, throwing his arm across his face dramatically, and Cam couldn't help but catch some of his enthusiasm.

Mimicry complete, Dustin moved back beside Cam, peering at him intensely (this time with the benefit of lighting).

"You look a lot better than yesterday," he noted, nodding to himself.

"I feel a lot better than yesterday," Cam admitted, spirits raised slightly at his authenticity. Morning fiasco aside, he _did_ feel better.

Dustin nodded again.

"Good, I'll go tell the others," he declared, hopping to his feet and bounding over to the door. He paused though, hand on the knob and looked over his shoulder, opening his mouth in the beginnings of a question, but Cam beat him to it.

"I'll be fine alone," he reassured, and Dustin smiled and disappeared out the door, leaving Cam alone with his thoughts.

_I'll be fine_.

…after a shower.

After a nice, _cold_ shower.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

It was dark.

"Shane?" A whisper, loud but he barely caught it, and it was followed by an abrupt pat against the side of his face.

He was lying down, and he couldn't couldn't see anything.

"Shane?" The voice whispered again, closer, and the red ranger fought through his murky memories to figure out who it was.

"Shane, wake up," the voice hissed, and he could feel the warm breath hit the side of his face.

_Wake up?_

"Shane," it urged, and a weight pressed against his shoulder, followed by a series of harder pats.

"Wake _up_."

…Dustin?

"I _will_ wet willy you man, I am not against it," Dustin hissed into his ear, and Shane finally cast off his remaining anchors to dream-world and remembered that he had stayed the night at Ninja Ops, and _that_ was why Dustin was waking him up.

"I'm awake," he whispered back, moving to defend his ear from incoming attacks, and Dustin let out an exhale of victory. "Why didn't you turn on the light?" he asked, starring at the unrelenting darkness.

"I didn't want to hurt your eyes," Dustin replied, and Shane could tell now that he had lain down next to him in order to talk. "I wanted to wake you first. Speaking of which…" And then he crawled away, probably in search of the others.

With a smirk Shane began to sit up, wanting to hear what happened next.

With Dustin sticking to Cam, the others had moved to sleep in the living room, none of them too terribly excited by the idea of sleeping on the hardwood floors of the main room. Tori, by majority vote (she was the one who voted against it) was given the couch while Shane, Hunter, and Blake duked it out for the chair. Blake had won ultimately, and the two red rangers were left to sleep on the floor.

Dustin, unaware of this, would probably find Hunter first.

"Tori?" he asked, initiating his previous wake up tactic, and Shane could hear him pat Hunter's face.

"Hunter…" the crimson ranger grumbled, but made no move to…move.

Shane knew _that_ wouldn't do, not for Dustin.

He expected a yelp from Hunter, as Dustin would have to carry out his wet willy threat on _him_, but he was met with a peaceful silence.

"You have really soft hair," Dustin whispered, and while the red ranger couldn't _see_ him, he had absolutely no doubt that he was petting Hunter right now.

"Thanks," the blond grumbled, but didn't make any move to stop him.

When this continued for longer than Shane was comfortable with (Shane wasn't sure how long; it probably wasn't very long but with the whole conversation they had yesterday restarting itself in his head it felt like forever), he set off to find the light switch. Dustin being…Dustin, was kind of helping Hunter's point, but Hunter _wasn't_ right, and Shane wasn't going to ask the yellow ranger to stop being himself, so he would just have to intervene for now so Hunter wouldn't continue thinking he knew things.

He would figure out a better long term plan later.

A wave of groans echoed from Tori and Blake once he flicked the lights on and, while everyone else was adjusting to the light (himself included but he pushed through it), he made a beeline for Dustin and gently pried him away from the crimson ranger.

That was much better.

"Cam's awake!" Dustin declared enthusiastically, not bothered by the forced change in positioning. "And he looks better!" he continued, smiling brightly at Shane.

"…awesome," Hunter grumbled, sitting up and running a hand through his hair nonchalantly. Dustin looked like he was about to go for another hair feel-up so Shane casually wrapped his arm around his shoulder, returning his focus to him.

Hunter was still too asleep to notice it…probably. Shane didn't actually care.

"We should make breakfast," the red ranger urged, and Dustin nodded excitedly, hopping up and dragging Shane behind him, pulling them out of the room.

-:-:-:-:-:-

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-:-:-:-:-:-

With great coercion, (actually, Dustin hadn't really done anything except wake them up and drag Shane out of the room, he just really liked using that word) he managed to get the rest of the team to relocate to the kitchen for some much needed food-making time. It was decided they would cook pancakes (which were awesome in their fluffy goodness) but they quickly discovered that the whole_ "too many chef's ruin food"-_thing was most definitely true. Tori made him step out (he couldn't help it if he was messy) and Shane quickly volunteered to go with him to check up on Cam.

Dustin had to make Cam's bed for him; it was his fault the blankets were helter-skelter anyway.

He had a momentary panic attack when they reached Cam's room to see that he was nowhere to be found, and he was about to start pelting through Ninja Ops on a Cam-hunt when Shane pointed out that the lights were on in the attached bathroom. On closer inspection they could hear the shower running.

He grinned sheepishly at Shane before knocking on the door lightly, calling out, "Cam?"

When met with Shane's questioning look he whispered, "I just want to see if he's okay."

Shane seemed okay with that, and they both waited patiently for any kind of reply so they could get to making the bed. When they received none, Dustin knocked on the door harder and called out a little louder.

"Cam?"

Dustin gave him ten seconds (because he wasn't wasting time if Cam was passed out) before he began to fumble with the doorknob. He shared a quick look with Shane before they barged into the small bathroom. Their plan, if they had had one, would have started with them finding Cam and figuring out what was wrong with him. At least, that was Dustin's plan. So he really didn't think too much about it when he yanked aside the shower curtain because he was pretty sure the only thing he would find was Cam passed out in the tub, and then they would be too distracted with _that_ to worry about anything else.

Actually, the only other reasons he _might_ have been able to come up with for Cam's non-response were that the tech had been kidnapped, or he'd accidentally stepped into an alternate dimension, or his sickness had come back with so much vengeance that he was now mute and unable to answer them (though if that were the case, the least he could do was come to the door).

Dustin was really surprised when he pulled the curtain open and was suddenly face-to-face with a very conscious, very _naked_ Cam, who seemed just as surprised as he was about the whole affair.

They stood there like that for who knew how long (it was too long) before Shane reached around him and gently shut the curtain.

…so, Dustin had been wrong about the mute thing. Cam had gone deaf. That would explain it.

And now Dustin kind of wanted to hide.

The red and yellow rangers stood side-by-side awkwardly, not entirely sure what to do next. They had violated some major man-law right there, right? There had to be some kind of procedure you had to follow when stuff like that went down. And despite his desire to melt into the ground and never ever return, Dustin was still worried about Cam.

Shane, somehow sensing this, took over the situation. "Why didn't you answer us?"

There was a slight pause, almost like Cam couldn't believe they were still there, and then a sigh. "I was meditating,"

Meditating in the shower? It made sense; Cam _was _a pretty awesome multi-tasker.

Maybe Dustin should give it a try some day.

"Now get out of my bathroom," Cam stated, seemingly calm, but Dustin could hear the warning in his voice.

Shane continued as though he hadn't heard him. "Why isn't the heat on?"

"What?" Dustin asked before he could stop himself, and shoved a hand over his mouth when he realized he said something, before sinking behind Shane in an attempt to hide himself from someone who wasn't even looking for him.

Shane answered his question anyway. "The heat's not on; if it was the mirror would be fogged up and it would be humid in here."

"Do you think he has a fever?" Dustin asked, forgetting his need to not exist because, if Cam needed help, he came first.

"I don't have a fever; this is just how I wake up," Cam insisted sounding…not sounding desperate, not like he needed them to believe a lie, and he _had_ looked fine earlier, but still-

Shane ruffled Dustin's hair to calm him, and shared the same wavelength. "Look Cam, if you don't want all of us around that's fine, but if you're still sick _someone_ has to stay and help you. You can even pick who."

There was a tense silence, that Cam eventually broke. "I'm _fine._ Now get out of my bathroom."

Shane glared at the curtain, clearly not agreeing with his diagnosis before shrugging it off and very quickly pulling Dustin out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

They stared at it together, Dustin in confusion and Shane in deep thought. Eventually the red ranger shook his head and motioned towards the pile of blankets on the floor. They set to their task in silence, and once they completed it the shower was still running.

Dustin mustered up enough courage to break their silence.

"Is he still sick?" he asked quietly, staring at the door, worried.

Shane reached over and patted his shoulder, concern evident on his features. "I don't know, but stay here and keep an eye on him okay?"

Dustin nodded and Shane left the room, probably to consult the others and, for the first time in a while, Dustin dreaded the idea of seeing Cam. After his stupid actions, Cam probably dreaded the idea of seeing him too.

He shook his head and plopped back down on Cam's bed to wait, pushing his feelings aside.

He had a job to do, and he was going to do it.

-:-:-:-:-:-

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The situation in the kitchen had calmed down since his last visit; by the time Shane returned Tori was already pouring pancake batter onto the griddle while Hunter had started on the dishes. Blake leaned against the counter next to him, keeping a hold of a hand towel, and Shane could tell from the smug look on his face that he must have won whatever challenge he and his brother had set up to decide who would get stuck with dish duty. Shane also noted that the flour from Dustin's spontaneous bag explosion had been cleaned up as well; leaving only bare traces of the yellow ranger's personal touch on the counters.

All and all, not too shabby for a ten minute absence.

Aside from a glance from the shorter Thunder brother, Shane's entrance was ignored; the others too busy settling into a morning routine. It was a liberty Shane couldn't allow himself to take, not with the exchange he and Dustin just had with Cam looping through his mind.

It was…perplexing.

Dustin hadn't been the only one concerned when Cam hadn't responded, and although the tech seemed okay on inspection (the red ranger had mentally blocked out everything below Cam's waist), he was still disturbed by Cam's temporary inability to hear. He trusted Cam and, if he said that he had been meditating, Shane was willing to believe him, but the freezing cold shower told him not to be so quick with his judgments. Unless, of course, he _was_ okay, but then Shane could only think of one reason anyone would _want_ to take a cold shower in the morning, and seeing as Dustin had spent the night with Cam, that wasn't the reason.

He didn't dare entertain otherwise; he wouldn't give Hunter the satisfaction, even in his mind.

Because somehow the crimson ranger would figure it out.

But that wasn't important at the moment. Right now Cam was either sick or fine, but that didn't change the fact that he clearly needed some alone time. Of course, Shane couldn't really give that to him (given the possibilities of recurring illness hanging over his head) so he would have to do the next best thing and leave a select few (somebody and Dustin, who would be intent on staying) to hold down the fort. The best choice would be Tori, seeing as she was one of Cam's favorites and she complemented Dustin well with her level headedness and immutable responsibility, but her family (like his) would notice her extended absence, so she (like he) was out as a choice.

That left either Blake or Hunter.

In his mind, Shane was rooting for Blake.

"How's Cam?"

The voice pulled him of his thoughts. When his eyes readjusted, he saw Tori smiling at him cheerfully over her shoulder, throwing watchful glances at her round batter charges.

Several answers went through his mind, but he decided on the most honest one. "I'm not sure."

_That_ got their attention. Hunter shut off the water and relieved Blake of his duty, keeping a hold on the towel after he dried his hands. He watched as Tori argued with herself, desperate to focus completely on the upcoming conversation but still feeling inclined to ensure the pancakes made it to being properly (and not overly) cooked. In the end the pancakes won.

When all three sets of eyes were on him (Tori's only briefly), he continued with a shrug. "He looked okay."

Hunter, as he always did, saw through this. "But he's not okay?"

Again, Shane answered as honestly as he could. "I'm not sure."

He wasn't. He wanted to trust Cam but he also wanted to make sure that the tech was okay.

"He needs…" he struggled for how to word this, "…alone time," he finished, satisfied with his choice.

By the looks of it, Hunter was not. "We can't leave him alone if he's sick," he lectured, crossing his arms firmly.

Shane fought to keep from getting angry.

"I know that," he snapped, then took a moment to breathe before continuing, more calmly, "That's why someone has to stay with him…and Dustin."

You could tell how well they knew each other when no one questioned or even commented on the yellow ranger's immediate nomination for the job. With what they had witnessed yesterday, they knew there would be no arguing with Dustin.

Tori sighed in frustration.

"I can't stay," she grumbled, removing the finished pancakes from the skillet and turning the stove off, turning to fully join the impromptu team meeting. Blake silently moved to her side, resting his back against the counter.

"I know," Shane agreed, equally frustrated, "I can't either." He eyed the two Thunder rangers, staring them down equally, "That leaves one of you two."

It was a real fight to mask his desire for it to be the navy ranger.

Hunter and Blake shared a quick glance before the blond gave him a nod. "I'll do it. Unlike _someone," _he aimed this at Blake, "I'm all caught up on my homework."

"Great," Shane declared, "then it's settled."

He wasn't happy with it, but he pushed that aside; this was bigger than him. Cam needed them gone, and Dustin…he meant well, but it would be best if Dustin had someone who could be relied on to keep their cool if things got stressful. His apprehensions aside, Hunter was probably the best choice for the job. He would be a good mediator, but Cam wouldn't let him push him around.

It was also an opportunity for team bonding, and as long as Hunter didn't reinvent the word, Shane was fine with that.

"When should we go?" Blake asked.

"Now would be best," Shane replied, receiving no argument from the rest of the team.

Tori gave one last look at the remaining batter but Hunter waved her off, touching her arm. "I got this, you guys go ahead."

Tori gave him a tight smile in return before exiting the room with Blake; Shane moved to follow them but stopped just as he reached the door frame and looked back over his shoulder.

"Call if anything happens okay?"

It wasn't a question; it was more of an order.

And a warning.

Hunter, aware of the hidden meaning tilted his head in acknowledgment. "Okay."

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

The small number of minutes that had passed by since Shane's exit seemed to have stretched out into years, causing Dustin to fidget nervously with the bottom hem of his shirt while he bounced on Cam's bed, where he had exiled himself since being left alone.

He hoped Cam didn't hate him.

He hadn't done it on purpose. Well, he _had_ done it on purpose, but not on peeping-Tom purpose, more for on friend-is-sick purpose, which was a really good purpose, but he wasn't sure how to put that into words.

Dustin frowned and buried his hands in his hair, combing through his curls restlessly.

He almost wished Cam _had_ been unconscious; that way they could all be focusing on that instead of…well. But he was fine, and thought they didn't trust him because he said he was fine and insisted he was fine but if there was the slightest chance he _wasn't_ fine Dustin wanted to help him because he was his friend, and Cam always helped him and let him hang out at Ninja Ops and made time for him and Dustin just didn't want him hurt. It was like he sprained his ankle all over again, except this wasn't _entirely_ Dustin's fault.

He just wanted Cam to be happy, and who was happy when they were sick?

He would even leave if that was what Cam wanted.

His morpher chimed quietly next to his ear, and he gave one last look over to the door (yes, shower still running) before he answered it.

"Hello?" he whispered quietly, making just enough sound so that he was audible for the person on the other end. If anything happened in the bathroom he wanted to hear it.

No one could say he was bad at guard duty.

"Dustin, it's Shane. We decided it would be best to give Cam some space." He opened his mouth to object but Shane knew him well enough and continued. "Hunter's going to stay behind with you."

_Oh_, _okay._

It took Dustin a moment to realize Shane couldn't see him nodding before he brought the morpher back to his mouth to give a verbal confirmation. "Gotcha. I'll let you know if anything happens."

If he could see Shane he knew he'd have his leader face on. "Good."

_Good_.

The line cut out, leaving Dustin to pick up where he had left off. He shifted again, folding his legs up to his chest and resting his head sideways on his knees, still keeping his eyes on the clock while tapping his toes sporadically against the pale green comforter. At 10:18 the water shut off, and Dustin could hear Cam get out of the shower, completely normal. He shut his mind off from mental imaging (see, super respect to privacy) and continued listening with a half ear, just enough to know if anything went wrong.

He wasn't sure how he could make it up to Cam. Apologizing, that was a clear choice, but would that be enough?

He was blowing this up; it would be fine. The only other thing he could think of-

"Are you two still out there?"

Startled, Dustin pulled his eyes away from the clock and stared at the bathroom door, where Cam's voice had rang from. It had been loud, and at the bottom of the door Dustin could see the tech's shadow. He must be leaning on the other side.

"Just me," he replied, unsure if that was the right answer.

Did Cam want to be alone now? Was that why he hadn't just come out of the bathroom? Should Dustin have stayed silent so they could talk face-to-face? He couldn't do that; lying wasn't in him.

"Just you?" Cam echoed; the untrained ear would call his tone emotionless, but Dustin detected just the barest hints of surprise.

"And Hunter, but I think he's in the kitchen." He paused before adding, "The others left."

His words were met with silence and he was about to dash out the door and leave Cam to Hunter because obviously he was a lot more angry than Dustin had thought he was, but the silence gave way to the sounds of the door unlocking and Cam exited the bathroom, fully clothed in a long sleeve shirt and sweatpants, looking no worse for the wear.

They fell back into silence as they stared at each other, and Dustin wasn't sure how Cam felt about it but eventually the tension got too much for him and he exploded, "I'm sorry!" and then shoved a hand over his mouth when he realized how much _louder_ that came out than he had meant it to.

He took a breath and whispered quietly, "I'm sorry."

Some of the hardness went away from Cam's eyes, but he didn't make any move to get closer to the yellow ranger, choosing to stay across the room, leaning against a dresser.

"You were worried," he concluded logically, in the same voice he used to explain everything to Dustin.

The yellow ranger shook his head frantically, "I know, but-"

Cam cut him off, "I forgive you."

And just like that a huge weight lifted off Dustin's shoulders. Cam wouldn't lie to him; he wouldn't forgive him if he didn't mean it. By the way he carried himself Dustin could still tell he was a little wound up about it, but that was less at Dustin and more at…the uncomfortable-ness of it.

Well, Dustin knew how to fix that.

"Thanks," he exclaimed, smiling brightly. The tech returned his enthusiasm with a single nod and turned around, pulling open a random drawer in search of something. Maybe socks…Dustin always wore socks when he was at home; they kept his feet warm and toasty. He blinked and smacked the side of his head irritably, he was getting unfocused. Swallowing, he decided that if he was ever going to fully fix Cam he might as well ask him while his back was turned.

"Do you wanna see me naked?"

He had asked it in a normal voice, not too soft, not too loud, not too fast; there was no way Cam could mistake what he had said.

He had thought the reaction might be funny, (hoped, really, but you could never tell with Cam) and he was not disappointed. The tech seemed to stumble over thin air (an impressive feat for someone who wasn't even moving) and collapsed against the top of his dresser, knocking over a lamp that he quickly intercepted and righted. After all this, he took a moment to stand up properly before turning and asking for clarification.

It was Dustin's turn for uncontrollable fidgeting.

"Well," he started, looking to the side while brushing back his hair. "I saw you in the buff; not on purpose." He looked at Cam at that to make sure the other teen knew that, but of course he knew that, because he was _Cam_ and they had just spoken about it but he wanted it out there anyway. "But that's super invasive and I figured the best way to make it up to you is if we did the whole eye for an eye thing and then we'd be square and could put this thing behind us and laugh and then never speak of it again ever."

He was impressed with himself. Near the end he had even managed to maintain eye contact, and he stood at the finale and gestured broadly with his arms, trying to sell this, because this, in a way, would make them even.

Cam was of a differing opinion.

"No," he replied sternly, turning his back on Dustin once more to declare the conversation over, but Dustin wasn't one to give up so easily.

He rushed over to the tech's side. "But-"

Cam didn't even let him finish.

"No," he repeated again, much more forcefully, but refusing to meet Dustin's eyes.

See, see! He was still embarrassed! The only way that would stop was if they both were even and then everything could be groovy.

"_C-am,_" he whined tugging on his sleeve, but the tech responded by ripping it away from him.

"Keep your clothes on," he lectured, finally pulling out a pair of socks (Dustin knew it) before slamming the drawer shut.

Dustin jumped at the sudden noise and frowned, deciding it was time to simply take the initiative.

"Just look," he pressed, grabbing the bottom of his shirt and lifting it up. He almost got to where he would pull the sleeves off when Cam intercepted him, pulling the shirt back down.

"No!" he shouted, and they were soon in the weirdest tug-a-war Dustin had ever been involved in. Cam's initial pull had caused him to stumble forward, and soon he was leaning with his back against the dresser and Cam was in front of him.

This shouldn't be this hard. Seriously, he understood Cam's modesty, but when did it apply to _him?_ Cam was a guy, he was a guy, they had the same parts, what was the problem? He just wanted to take part in the embarrassment, was that so much to ask?

He was mid-pull when he realized that pulling up was proving to be far harder than pulling down (and marveling at how sturdy this shirt was because he and Cam were two strong dudes and it hadn't so much as budged in the ripping and tearing department) when he got a wicked idea and suddenly let go. Cam, unprepared for the sudden change, lost his grip and fell to his knees, giving Dustin just enough time to whip his shirt off.

He moved to undo his pants but Cam wasn't giving in just yet and tried to cut him off, and he was ready to point out he was already halfway there when the door opened suddenly, freezing them in place.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

Hunter had yet to decide if Shane's incessant interference with his interactions with Dustin were out of jealousy or protection (as he doubted it was out of bigotry), but he knew well enough not to call the other teen out on it, not yet. Time was on his side anyway. All he had to do was out-wait the red ranger and he would have his moment.

Now, for instance, was a good example of that. Shane had been against him staying; Hunter could read it in his body language, but had wisely said nothing. Now Hunter had all the time he needed, but had respectfully declined rubbing Shane's face in it.

At least, not verbally.

_Take that red guy._

He finished cooking the remaining pancake batter and set off to fetch Cam and Dustin so they could eat. He found the door to Cam's room with little difficulty and knocked on it a few times out of formality before pushing it open, already beginning his spiel. "I finished up breakfast, we have…"

His sentence trailed off once his brain started processing what his eyes were seeing and, aside from a sizable amount of surprise, he couldn't help but feel satisfied because clearly, A) Shane did not know his team as well as he thought he had, and B) Hunter _did._

Inside the room, Dustin was leaning against a dresser, shirt dangling from his far hand as he posed frozen, his other hand on his waistband. This alone Hunter would have been okay with because it was Dustin and if anyone embodied the meaning of the word "spontaneity" it would be him. Odd things happened around him; it was simply his state of being.

It was Cam's positioning, which was in no way something that was naturally Cam, that made Hunter pause. The tech was on his knees in front of the yellow ranger, assisting (or had been) in the removal of his remaining articles of clothing and what could have been a seemingly harmless situation turned into something completely different.

His initial reactions were followed with a slight feeling of disappointment because this meant that Dustin was _definitely_ off limits (he was not messing with Cam) and, if he had only come a few minutes later, he could have caught them in the middle of the act. He wasn't sure what he would have done then; probably left them to it, but if they _had_ been doing something Hunter would have had definite proof of his wisdom that he could use against Shane.

Dustin was unbothered by his intrusion, tossing his shirt away and batting aside Cam's hands so he could untie his sweats. Hunter could only gawk in surprise; he hadn't taken the brunette as an exhibitionist. Cam, on the other hand, had donned a look of complete horror after his initial shock wore off, face lighting up bright red. The yellow ranger's motions seemed to rocket him into action, and once he realized Dustin had kept going he stood quickly, taking ahold of the other's hands in an attempt to be modest for the both of them.

While he had been arguing with himself over the outcomes of staying vs. leaving, Hunter decided to take pity on Cam and ducked back out of the room, giving them the alone time they so desperately wanted.

He was only a few steps down the hall when he heard Cam call out behind him, "This isn't what it looks like!"

Hunter smirked and shook his head. Cam was trying to salvage (his reputation, his modesty)…_something_, but he should know Hunter wasn't one to judge. He didn't have to prove anything to him.

"What does it look like?" Dustin's voice, quieter, as it was directed to Cam, floated out the door, genuinely oblivious.

A few hurried footsteps followed and Cam burst into the hallway, tense but relieved by the crimson ranger's presence.

"It wasn't what it looked like," he repeated, nodding slowly.

To be honest, Hunter wasn't sure how to respond to that, but Dustin beat him to it.

"What did it look like?" he asked again, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

Cam shook his head sharply.

"Don't answer that," he warned, pointing to Hunter.

It was at this moment that Hunter began to believe he might have misinformed himself on what had actually happened.

"What?" Dustin replied, still shirtless. "I wanna know."

He looked back and forth between the other rangers innocently, unbothered by his state of undress.

"No," Cam lectured, keeping his eyes focused on Hunter, "you don't."

_Interesting_.

Hunter might have been wrong about their…_activities_, but there was still a chance he was right about other things.

He tucked that nugget of information away for later reflection and settled in for getting to the bottom of this.

"What's going on?"

Dustin turned his attention to Hunter for the first time since his interruption.

"Cam doesn't want to see me naked," he complained, frowning at the tech who chose to focus on the wall immediately to his right in a sorry attempt to hide a blush.

Hunter smiled knowingly.

"And how is that not what it looks like?" he asked, snapping Dustin's eyes back on him and earning another blush from Cam.

"What does it look like?" Dustin replied, scrunching his nose in frustration.

He was either a really good actor, or had something else completely on his mind.

Was there an innocent reason to get naked?

…for Dustin, it just might be plausible.

"It's not like that!" Cam insisted, blush dying down somewhat. He sighed and rubbed the side of his head irritably.

Dustin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It _could_ be."

"Trust me," Cam informed, pushing his glasses up his nose, "it's not."

Hunter tried to rope them back on subject.

"Why do you want to…" he searched for the best way to put this, "be naked with him?"

The look Dustin gave him clearly indicated he thought Hunter was crazy, and that somehow _his_ comment had nothing to do with the current situation, and his following question supported this. "What are you talking about?"

Hunter suppressed the need to roll his eyes, "You just said he doesn't-"

"_See,"_ Dustin explained, pointing to his eye to emphasize his point. "I said _see._"

Although he wanted to, Hunter did not point out that there was very little difference between their statements and decided it was time to move on.

"Why?" he asked, settling on a question that could in no way _not_ meet Dustin's standards.

Thankfully the yellow ranger accepted this.

"Because I saw him naked," he started, motioning to Cam (as though Hunter would think it was someone else), "on accident! Well, it was on purpose but we thought he was passed out but he wasn't passed out and I wanted to make it up to him and this seemed like a really good way." He finished his ramble and stared at Hunter expectantly, waiting for his approval.

…so that was how you got naked in a completely non-sexual way.

Interesting.

"…Okay," Hunter admitted after a few minutes of silence.

"Okay?" Cam echoed while Dustin simultaneously cheered. "He agrees with me, I win!"

Cam frowned and pulled the arm Dustin had pumped into the air back down, looking at the yellow ranger for the first time since Hunter had started talking to them. "No, no you don't win, and no he doesn't agree with you!"

Dustin opened his mouth to protest, grabbing onto the tech's arm. "But-"

Cam shook his head solemnly, pulling out his grasp. "No."

"Cam-" the other whined and it looked like this was going to drag on longer then it needed to so Hunter decided to put an end to it.

He cleared his throat loudly, drawing both of their attentions back to him before he swept his arm out dramatically and stated, "I declare you even."

It was Dustin who finally broke their silence. "What?"

"You…" Hunter said, pointing to him, "and you," he continued, pointing at Cam, "You're even," he explained as though it were the plainest thing in the world. That said, he brushed past them back into Cam's room and snatched Dustin's shirt off the floor, tossing it back to him when he exited the room.

"Now follow me," he continued, waving them along. "It's time for breakfast," he finished and turned, walking down the hallway.

He couldn't help but add over his shoulder when two sets of footsteps began to echo after him. "If you still feel like taking your clothes off after that, we'll talk."

He could feel Cam glaring at the back of his head.

"Stop encouraging him," he growled, but further threats were cut off as Dustin decided to wander into a different topic of conversation, and soon they were merrily discussing the benefits of pancakes vs. those of French toast.

It took until halfway through their meal for Cam to completely relax, and a little longer than that before he was comfortable making eye contact with Dustin. Luckily for both of them Dustin had pretty much taken Hunter's word as law and didn't bring the subject of clothing removal up again.

This Sunday was looking to be a lot brighter than he had originally thought.

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><p>Endnotes:<p>

Funny anecdote: I had two titles for this chapter and offered them both to my two beta readers for them to chose between. They each picked a _different __**one**_.

Yeah, I flipped a coin. It's legit.

**On "there was no way Cam could mistake what he had said":**

The Real Vampire: *laughs*

Me: "What?"

The Real Vampire: "Heh, my computer is a pirate! It keeps trying to correct this sentence to 'there be no way Cam could mistake'"

*laughs*

Me: "…I am trying really hard not to be jealous over here."

*fails miserably*

**On misreading things:**

Rogue: "Huh, at first I read, _'he looked up to find Dustin's crotch in front of him.'_"

Me: *laughs* "And _this_ is my surprised face."

Rogue: "Funny, that looks like your normal… oh, right. Um, well, at least I can admit my mind's perpetually in the gutter. That's something at least."

Me: *smiles* "It's good to be true to oneself."

**On Shane's openness:**

Rogue: "Because, let's face it, Shane's like an open book. A picture book. A pop-up picture book."

Me: *helpfully adds* "With sparkly fireworks and a special read-a-long tape."

Rogue: *points* "Exactly."

"The other" count (chapter): 2

"The other" count (cumulative): 23

Until next time.


	14. Will I?

Chapter 14

**Will I?**

I don't own Rent.

Much love to Rogue Ranger for being a grammar Nazi and to the real vampire for being a human thesaurus. Any remaining errors are strictly my fault.

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><p>X, it would seem, marked the spot.<p>

Not the good spot, or any kind of spot Dustin had ever _thought _he might have wanted to find, but his high school pre-cal class seemed to have a different opinion on that and demanded that he be able to locate and determine any x-related questions that they happened to throw his way. He had managed to figure it out in algebra where there was only one x, but now there were like, five, and _then_ there were x's raised to powers and natural logs and critical points and derivative rules and he was completely lost in a sea of gibberish and no matter where he swam, or what he did, he could not locate the mythical x they were asking for.

After breakfast Dustin had made a quick stop at his house to pick up his homework, because it didn't matter if he was one of the guys in charge of saving the world; he was still responsible for memorizing vocab lists, and he was currently working through his boatloads of paperwork on the floor in a far corner of the lab while Cam typed away at his computer. Hunter, the lucky devil, had no homework and had been roped into the easy job of cleaning duty. Dustin was tempted to ask if he was up for trading, but he didn't want to make it so obvious that he had no idea what he was doing.

He glared at the almost illegible scribbles in his spiral notebook; he had copied what the teacher had written exactly (when he'd been paying attention; it wasn't his fault that math was really boring) but somehow he couldn't imitate her way of solving the questions.

It was infuriating.

Normally he would have asked Cam for help, but he couldn't do that today. He felt bad enough doing it when Cam was completely 100%, because he knew this stuff was so far beneath the other teen's level of intelligence that it must be laughable, and while he might work through it patiently with him, Dustin knew that it must feel like he's teaching like…a preschooler or something. So no, he wouldn't bother Cam today; he had more important things to do. In fact he was so busy that he hadn't said much of anything as soon as they had gotten down to the lab, so focused was he on whatever project or doohickey he happened to be working on.

Well, that was just fine. Cam had enough super important things to do; he shouldn't have to waste his time teaching Dustin how to solve for x or whatever he was supposed to be doing.

It was official: he was a nincompoop. How he'd ever made it this far in school he would never know.

Frustrated, he started packing up, shuffling his papers into a semblance of order (a habit enforced on him by "the man") and shutting his book harshly, shoving it into his backpack. He began to gather his multitude of pencils; he had a nasty habit of using one for a while until misplacing it, then he would take out another one and misplace _that_ one, and this process would repeat itself at least four or five times before he was finished with his work which meant he had to find them all when it was over or be forced to buy dozens more pencils than he actually needed.

Now, where were they?

After checking all his usual places he found that he was still missing a pencil. He searched through all his pockets (back, front, hoodie, inside the shoe just in case) but came up with nothing, and quickly went to rifling through his backpack. He was just about to dump its entire contents on the ground when a pencil slid into his vision, held up by a tan hand.

He followed up the arm of the offered pencil and found a smirking Hunter crouching next to him, discarded broom leaning against a table behind him.

"It was rolling away," he explained as Dustin took it.

Of course it was. It was going for freedom, probably trying to make its way over to Cam so it could be used by someone with at least moderate intelligence.

His thoughts must have somehow read on his face because Hunter's smirk faded away into concern and he settled down next to Dustin, gently turning over the discarded text book and reading the title.

Instead of asking immediately what was wrong, Hunter went with a more delicate approach. "Pre-Cal bites doesn't it?"

If by 'bites' he meant it sucked out your soul and any hidden nuggets of self worth you might have left, then yes, Pre-Cal bites.

Dustin was pretty sure that answer wasn't going to help him any in the _"try and look smart"_ department, so he settled for replying, "Yeah," and offering no further explanation.

He took the rogue pencil out of Hunter's hand and slid it into his case along with his other prizes, taking great care to close it as delicately and as normally as possible. It was much harder to do now that he was thinking about it, but he managed to slide it into the front pocket of his backpack with only minor jerking. He threw another glare at his notes while he pawed for his stack of papers to put them away too, but, instead of landing on his homework, his hand met more floor. He tore his eyes away from his spiral notebook and forced himself to slowly glance over to where his notes _should_ be and was met by the sight of Hunter reading through his homework, eyebrows scrunched in deep thought.

By now he should have figured out that acting on his gut reactions wasn't always the best move or that _maybe_ it wouldn't hurt to take a breath to calm down and _think_ before he did anything (even if Hunter was reading the evidence that was shrieking his lack of smarts) but the panic rising inside him overrode any thoughts he might have had and, before he knew it, he was wildly snatching for his math work.

Without missing a beat, Hunter pulled them out of his reach, standing quickly before going back to giving his work a go-over.

_No, no, no, no, no- _

Dustin didn't bother completely rising, instead throwing caution to the wind and tackling the other teen's legs, forcing Hunter to the ground. This time it was Dustin who reacted faster, crawling off of the tall blond and snatching back his paper work before leaping to his feet. Confetti rained down to the freshly swept floor as Dustin shredded the papers, completely destroying them. He wasn't going to turn them in anyway, he might as well take out some of his anger on them.

The sound of a throat clearing tore his focus away from his newly created decoration and, despite the fact he _really_ didn't want to, he slowly made himself look at its source. He had forgotten, in the rush of it all, that the main goal of all his hard work had been to not bother Cam. A goal, it seemed, he had fallen incredibly short of.

The tech had stopped his work and was staring at him, a searching expression on his face, and though Dustin couldn't see it he could _feel_ Hunter copying the same look.

"I'll clean it up," he offered before he could shift his weight or kick his feet or do whatever he usually did when embarrassed and grabbed the broom. He began sweeping frantically, then halted, took a breath, and began to sweep at a normal pace, keeping his eyes firmly focused on the ground, wishing for all the world it was dirt so he could melt into it and never come back up.

He was desperately hoping for Cam to simply shrug it off and go back to work or for Hunter to make a joke about his spazzyness and start dusting, but none of the sounds associated with those actions ever met his ears.

No one was going to play along with him this time.

It was Hunter who decided to break the silence. "I have no idea what just happened."

Dustin continued sweeping, desperately trying to think of an excuse that would explain his actions.

There was a small cough from Cam's direction before he replied, "Me either."

Dustin's mind was drawing a blank for answers, so he went to his next best option when it came to self preservation. It wasn't something he did too terribly often on purpose, because he usually just did it naturally, but the few times he _had, _it resulted in success.

When all else failed, play dumb.

Game plan in mind, he finally took his eyes off the floor, blinking at them innocently before pointing to his broom in confusion. "I started sweeping."

They weren't prepared for the sudden change in tone and, by the looks of it, they weren't buying his story. They didn't even look like they were on the edge of buying his story, not even close to believing it, but he stayed strong, keeping his face perfectly confused. He even added in a quizzical head scratch to bring it home.

By the uneasy pause that followed, he could guess his efforts were ignored.

Cam rose from his chair and took a few steps towards him, eying the mess on the floor.

"Before that," he said tersely before shifting his attention to Hunter and asking, "The scuffling?"

Hunter shook his head, choosing to ask the real question, "What was wrong with your homework?"

Dustin turned his back to them, crouching down to sweep his pile of trash into the dustpan, hesitating a moment before cheerfully answering, "Nothing."

Nothing, it was _nothing_. His hours of work and frustration and hassle over trying to find out what a stupid x was, was…nothing.

Not even worth the paper it was written on.

Hunter frowned. "You just tore it up."

_Yes, I think we all know that now._

"No I-" Dustin frowned, struggling to find the right words to express himself as he picked up some stray pieces of paper.

He took a breath and tried again, "It's not…" but he couldn't think of the words to finish it, because he _had_ just freaked out and tore up his homework and was doing a terrible job of covering it up. He dumped the waste into a trashcan, watching it flutter to the bottom. He smiled brightly, then tempered it down some, making it more believable before turning.

"This," he explained, pointing inside the trashcan, "is confetti."

He didn't wait to see their reactions (because that was one clear way of showing you were lying) and instead settled for crossing the room to put the broom back in its closet. Hunter was done with sweeping anyway.

He heard the blond scoff behind him before murmuring, "It is _now_," followed by sounds of Hunter picking himself off the ground.

It was also followed by the sounds of something else being picked up, and it dawned on Dustin that while he may have destroyed his homework, he had not destroyed his notebook, which was also a shining example of his incompetence. A fresh wave of panic hit him and he pretty much hurled the broom into the closet before speeding back to his corner, only to be greeted by the sight of Hunter and Cam flipping through his notes. He'd never really understood when someone described their _"stomach dropping" _in fear or anticipation or something, but right now he was starting to get an idea of what they meant because he was starting to lose all feeling to the stomach area…and maybe the breathing area.

Finally, after what seemed like eighty five years, which was probably only a few minutes, Cam looked up from his scribbles and frowned, turning his spiral towards him and pointing to it before saying, "This doesn't make any sense."

Dustin was dumbfounded.

_This doesn't make any sense?_

Cam didn't think it made any sense?

Like, he didn't think the material made any sense so Dustin wasn't going crazy or alone in his stupidity?

Dustin exhaled sharply, a huge weight lifted off of his shoulders and suddenly everything he had been holding in came pouring out of him.

"Really?" he asked, walking up beside Cam and looking at him earnestly. "Because _I _thought it didn't make any sense but I just figured it was normal because it _normally_ doesn't make any sense no matter what I do and I even read the book." He squeezed the tech's arm in emphasis. "I read the book Cam, and I still couldn't figure it out but I didn't want to bother you…" he trailed off and motioned to Hunter, "or you, because everyone else seems to get it and if _they_ can get it there's no excuse that _I _can't get it," he continued, smacking the side of his head lightly, "But now you say it doesn't make any sense and that's really good because I have no idea what's going on."

He finished just as he ran out of breath, and he smiled at his friends (because the lying was done with and that was good because he hated it) but instead of returning his happiness he was met by another awkward pause where Cam and Hunter gave him confused looks.

Cam, being the professional one, simply accepted his explanation with a nod.

"I meant you're missing a step," he informed while gesturing to a specific spot in his notes, "So it doesn't make any sense."

…oh

_Stupid_

_Stupid_

_**Stupid**_

Of course Cam wasn't confused; Cam was never confused by anything. To even think he _might_ have the slightest problem with something as easy as pre-cal was not only foolish but just plain…delusional!

What had he been thinking? He hadn't; that was why he shot off his mouth.

Dustin started to walk away, leaving before he could make a bigger fool of himself.

"…I'm gonna go over there now," he said, pointing to the door. "Please ignore me."

"Dustin-" Cam began to call after him, but Hunter interrupted him.

"Pre-Cal sucks," he declared, earning not one, but two baffled looks from his friends. Well, Cam's look was more miffed at being cut off.

He shrugged casually, ignoring the tech. "It _does._ It took me forever to figure it out."

"…It did?" Dustin asked hesitantly, not really wanting to stay at all but they were still talking to him so he might as well listen.

"Yeah," Hunter continued, maintaining strong eye contact. "What are you having a problem with?"

Before Dustin could say 'everything', the blond added, "Specifically."

And by specifically he meant _"at what exact moment did you give up and decide ripping up your homework was a better choice than asking for help?"_

Dustin paused and thought for a moment before answering, "Factoring."

"I'll help you," Hunter offered, pulling the notes out of Cam's hands (who did not appear at all happy with the exchange) and walking over to him, placing a hand on Dustin's shoulder.

"No," the brunette started, still embarrassed by his actions, "I can-"

It was Cam's turn to cut someone off, even if his choice of words was unexpected, "How fast can you put together a bike engine?"

The yellow ranger was shocked by the sudden change in subject but caught on long before Hunter did; the blond still throwing Cam confused looks that the tech was now ignoring by the time Hunter recovered.

Dustin scratched his head and thought about it, "Well, I haven't really timed it…"

Cam clarified, "Compared to Blake and Hunter."

"Oh," Dustin said. "Way faster."

The Thunder brothers may be the kings of riding, but when it came to maintenance Dustin was clearly the victor. He never really thought about what he did; he just did it. He could spend hours working on a bike and it would feel like only minutes had gone by.

Cam, as though following his train of thought, continued, "You'd also be faster than me."

Dustin shook his head because that was just crazy talk, "There's no way-"

"My point," Cam interrupted, "is that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses." He walked over and took Dustin's other side. "Math just isn't your strongest suit."

Dustin hadn't thought of it like that. Sure, he was barely passable at math but he was slammin' at plenty of other things.

"…It makes sense when you put it that way," he admitted, feeling relieved.

"Great," Cam replied, squeezing his other arm. Dustin finally took the time to peek a glance at him, and was met by a look of reassurance.

Cam squeezed his arm again before letting go and slowly retreating back to his desk, calling over his shoulder, "Now don't rip up any more paper in my lab."

Dustin saluted his back, "Got it."

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He never would have thought it, but Hunter was actually an awesome teacher. He didn't mind going over things multiple times (because Dustin certainly needed it) and he explained everything _way_ better than any of his teachers ever could. It only took about an hour for Dustin to finally understand factoring and everything else in the assigned chapter, and after _that_ it only took a couple of hours to get through his homework. It was awesome and, not only did he not bother Cam; he hadn't bothered Hunter either.

Or, if he had, the guy did a really good job of hiding it. He probably wouldn't stick around for so long if he was about to go postal, teammate or no, so Dustin took it as a good sign.

They were alone for the moment as they worked through the final problems his teacher had assigned. Cam had left about half an hour ago to run some programs on the computers in the main room of Ninja Ops, leaving very strict instructions for them to not touch anything or he would _"impose the need to rip you limb from limb"._

He was very protective of his experiments.

"What are you doing Wednesday night?"

Dustin almost thought he had imagined it, but one look to Hunter confirmed that yes, the crimson ranger _had_ spoken and was waiting for an answer. It was his first make at small-talk since they had started working.

Wednesday night, Wednesday night, Wednesday night…what did he have then? He had work Wednesday afternoon, but as for Wednesday _night_, he was free.

"Nothing," he answered, smiling brightly at Hunter before he went back to entering numbers into his calculator.

"I was thinking," Hunter started casually, leaning over so that his shoulder brushed against Dustin's, "Since we both pretty much missed out on Fists of Fire 2 in theaters, I could just rent it for us to watch at my apartment."

Dustin halted mid-calculation, which was really a bad idea because he would lose track of where he was and have to start all over again, but this was something worth thinking about. Hunter was inviting him over. Hunter, the crimson ranger, who was currently helping him learn math, was inviting him into his secret sanctum to spend even _more_ time with him, indicating that he was not at all against the idea of spending time with him.

…_awesome_

To be honest, Dustin had no idea why Hunter had invited him the first time; he figured it was his attempt at bonding or maybe he mystically knew that he loved that movie, so he had simply gone with the flow. Maybe Hunter just communicated through movies, like, that was how he made friends best. There was always something to keep the conversation going if they had one, but that wasn't even required when you watched a movie.

"Yeah man, that sounds awesome!" he exclaimed, problem forgotten as he bounced excitedly in place.

He was going to see Fists of Fire 2, with Hunter, who wanted to see Fists of Fire 2, with _him_.

"Great. Wednesday, 7 o'clock, my place," Hunter concluded, ticking off the info on his fingers, and Dustin gave him a thumbs up to show that he had received this information.

The patter of footsteps echoed outside the room right before Cam reentered his lab, looking to be in good spirits. He gave a searching look over all his experiments before sitting back down in his chair. Dustin was about to ask him how everything was when Cam beat him to the punch.

"I was thinking it's about time for lunch, and if you…" he paused, then turned his chair around slowly, pointing at Dustin. "What are you so happy about?"

Aside from learning math?

No, Cam knew there was a new development; he could, like, smell it in the air.

Before Hunter could explain, Dustin decided to do it for him, for he knew only he could give this event the amount of pizazz it deserved.

"Fists of Fire 2!" he proclaimed, bouncing to his feet and sending his pencil flying. "Hunter's house, Wednesday at 7! Be there or forever hang your head in shame!" He ended it with a dramatic arm sweep across his body, finishing at his head before bowing it gracefully.

How was that for razzmatazz?

His attempt at showmanship made him miss the confused look Cam threw Hunter, or Hunter's look of _"you're not invited",_ but that didn't matter, as he kept going, making sure the tech didn't have a chance to argue. He moved back to Cam's initial topic of conversation - the matter of lunch.

"I make a mean grilled sandwich!" he declared, popping his head back up and returning to a more relaxed body position. "I can even add bacon…and tomatoes, if that's your thing. Just point me to the kitchen."

Cam opened his mouth but the look on his face said he was still back on the Fist of Fire train of conversation, so Dustin just steamrolled on. "You know what, I'll find it myself," he finished, jogging out of the room with a wave, leaving two equally befuddled teammates in his wake.

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There was a poignant pause after Dustin's rather vocal and melodramatic exit, leaving Cam and Hunter wordless, minds racing to recover after processing the new development. Eventually, tired of the silence, it was Cam who decided to address the situation first.

"I wasn't invited to that, was I?"

Hunter shook his head and confirmed the tech's suspicions, running a hand through his blond tresses before dropping it forward to rest on his knee, exasperated. Cam frowned, and turned back to his computer, letting the matter slide. He wasn't about to bother confronting the crimson ranger about it; Dustin was friendly and therefore a good choice to do friend-like things with. It was only natural to prefer someone as intensely outgoing as the yellow ranger, and even more natural to avoid a sarcastic "grump" like himself.

Logically, Hunter's decision made sense.

This worked out, Cam was more than pleased to go on with his life, seemingly unaffected by it (so much so that eventually he _would_ be unaffected by it) until Hunter decided this conversation was _not_ over.

That was when everything went downhill.

"It was supposed to be a date," the blond moaned behind him, obviously aggravated by his miscommunication.

Clearly, Dustin had not been aware of this fact.

"This is the second time," he continued, and Cam had to focus real hard on his screen, squeezing his mouse in a death grip to ensure that none of the hundreds of pressing questions he had on the matter came tumbling out of him until he could determine which would be appropriate to ask first.

_Focus,_ he urged himself.

Step one, analyze the first message. The leading six words were inconsequential, of little importance, casual, everyday occurrences that invoked little to no panic generally. However, with the addition of the final word the entire meaning of its predecessors drastically altered, sending Cam into a state of semi-frenzy.

Date.

_Date_.

Not _the_ date, _a _date.

"_It was supposed to be a date,"_ he had said, distressed by the fact that its current status clearly was _not_ a date.

But he would like it to be one.

He would like to go on a date with Dustin.

He would like to _date_ Dustin.

Somehow, with everything that Cam had endured over the past week, _that_ was what bothered him the most.

Something in the back of his mind was trying to tell him that this also meant he was not alone in his…sexuality and, not only that, Hunter was exhibiting a great deal of trust in him to share such information so easily, unless he was open about it, but Cam could barely spend the time to focus on that when he was beset by a new spectrum of feelings and, despite his frequent meditation and awareness of the undisputed fact that thinking before reacting was key in _all_ situations, he found himself across the room in a heartbeat, hand on Hunter's shoulder, jerking him to attention.

The words flew out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"You stay away from him," he growled, totally unsupported, and against all established facts (Hunter's assistance with Dustin; Dustin's obvious need for friendship), but somehow feeling totally right.

To say he didn't have a handle on his emotional status would be laughably understated.

The surprise should have stayed on Hunter's face longer, should have affected him to a greater degree, but the taller Thunder brother always had a knack for adaption, and he shifted accordingly, throwing Cam's hand off of him.

"I didn't take you for a bigot Cam," he snarled, glaring at the tech.

Cam remained outwardly unaffected, though the other teen's total inaccuracy may have temporarily halted his breathing. He took a step back. While he may feel unreasonably angry he needed to communicate his concerns more effectively, or else further misrepresent himself. He took a deep breath to steady himself and started again, softer, though none of the tension had left his body.

"Dustin," he began through clenched teeth; before shaking his head and forcing himself to relax, "is my friend. And I'm not going to let you hurt him."

Hunter cut him off before he could further explain himself.

"First Shane and now you? What is with you guys? You say you trust me but the first whiff that I _might_ be interested in Dustin and you think I'm going to do things of unspeakable evil to him!" he exclaimed, climbing to his feet, "Tell me, is Tori going to be the same way or is it just you two?"

The excess was nothing; Cam couldn't allow himself to be thrown at the mention of his teammates, though the fact that Hunter had already had this conversation with Shane and was still pursuing the yellow ranger did worry him slightly. Made him wonder what they talked about _exactly_.

Cam would have to chat about it with Shane later. Right now he needed to put up a better, more sensible defense.

"You saw the way he reacted over his homework right; you were there?" Rhetorical, they both obviously knew how Dustin had felt but he needed to remind Hunter.

It would also aggravate him, which was an added bonus.

"_That's_ how much our opinions matter to him. How important he holds us in his mind."

Hunter remained unchanged by explanation, not bothering to bat an eyelash.

Cam continued, shifting slightly with a fact to support his argument. "You know he's not gay right?"

Clearly he didn't, or they wouldn't be here, having this conversation, but a little belittling with undisputed evidence might be just what the crimson ranger needed to shake him out of his funk.

He was unimpressed, glaring Cam down. "You and Shane seem to think so."

"If you do this," he began, walking slowly towards the crimson ranger, "you _will_ hurt him. You will press him into something he won't really want to do, but because _your_ opinion matters so much to him he will go along with it."

Instead of any look of epiphany in agreement at his sound logic, Hunter laughed in his face, moving towards him with a bold swagger until they were face to face.

"I think you don't have enough faith in him," he murmured. "I think," he started again, coy smile spreading across his face, "that while his strengths might not be here" - he motioned to the side of his head - "he's plenty smart enough to figure out _here_," he finished, patting the area of his chest over his heart. "To use your words."

It was logical, sort of, at least a solid half-attempt that made sense, but the feelings that had settled over Cam like a dust cloud were not pushed aside; rather they intensified. He had used his knowledge; those cards were already lying across the table for Hunter to clearly see. Now all he had left was the fickle beast of emotions. And Cam was more than ready to ride it.

"Stay. Away. From him," he warned softly and whatever foundations of friendliness and hospitality they had built up in their afternoon together came tumbling down, leaving nothing but crumbled remains in a desolate wasteland. To his credit, Hunter hid the majority of his surprise at Cam's new strategy, and opened his mouth to reply before shutting it suddenly, a searching look assuming his eye.

It dawned on Cam that one of them was finally _thinking_ before they moved into action.

"Are you gay Cam?" Hunter asked, leaning back while keeping up his examination, locked on Cam's eyes.

"That's none of your business," he attempted to say calmly, but Hunter didn't look like he was buying it.

The shift was instantaneous; one second the blond matched him for emotion, overflowing, angry and the next, just, stillness. There wasn't…there was no cruelty or mocking in Hunter's expression, as Cam would have thought there would be, just quiet contemplation. It was odd. Having Hunter so riled one second and the next- _this_, like it was nothing.

Nonthreatening; not victorious, just existing.

Cam hated it, because the crimson ranger didn't need to ask for confirmation, he already knew, and instead of lauding it above the tech's head he was just - why wasn't Hunter taunting him? He finally had a tool, a weakness he could exploit and Cam had earned it, with unreasonable accusations and fierce overprotection that was never warranted.

Hunter was undoubtedly in the right; Cam wouldn't blame him. Were their positions reversed, were Cam on the other side…he didn't know what he would see. What Hunter was looking at. Maybe he just saw some lost and broken _thing_, the almighty Cam just as susceptible to the average person's emotional turmoil.

If it was pity, if that was what Hunter had exchanged his anger for…it almost wasn't worth it. The pity was far less desirable. Not from Hunter.

Or perhaps that wasn't fair. Because from someone who had experienced so much of the worst of life-

Actually getting pity from them was an accomplishment.

Did that make it better, or worse?

"Cam," the blond broke him out of his reverie, still studying, but there was an almost softness to his tone, as bizarre as that was.

No, no it wasn't pity; at least that wasn't the dominating feeling represented. It could be lurking in the background but for the most part, if Cam was reading this right (and he could be horribly, horribly wrong because the past ten minutes had unveiled just how warped his perception could be), Hunter was portraying a look of solidarity. Of '_been there, done that'_ understanding.

So he wouldn't be upset.

"Cam," he said again, when he received no reply. He reached a hand out, resting it on the tech's shoulder. "It's okay."

The flinch was immediate, a primal, instinctive reaction and Cam wanted to laugh with a bitterness he couldn't fully describe because it wasn't, it _wasn't_ okay. He hated this, these _feelings_ he had no control over. He hadn't needed them, he didn't _want_ them, they hadn't been necessary before now so _why_-

"It's okay," Hunter echoed, trying to ground Cam, maybe; it was strange. Heat rose to Cam's cheeks, shame, embarrassment, he didn't- and his throat was suddenly tight. _What was wrong with him_? Had he completely lost it?

He would think Hunter was the worst person to break down in front of, but considering how fiercely the crimson ranger guarded himself; he knew the value of silence. And as much as he would have the others think to the contrary, as much as he may think it himself, Hunter was not inherently cruel.

He would not take advantage of these few broken moments.

"_Cam_."

He snapped his eyes up from the floor - apparently they had taken a sudden fascination in their footwear - and Hunter stared at him, like he was trying to say something with his eyes but Cam had no idea, he couldn't tell what-

This was absurdly difficult.

"Just…" Hunter sighed and his hand shifted against the tech's hip, "Just breathe, okay? You need to keep breathing."

Which sounded like a solid plan, if ever there was one. Probably the best thing Hunter had said all day, and Cam wanted desperately to praise him for it, but then the blond went back to his silent communications that Cam couldn't translate and he was drowning again, stupidly. Or drowning in his stupidity, his ineptness.

Hunter tilted his forehead against Cam's , no care for personal boundaries, or maybe this sort of thing helped when you were falling apart at the seems, what would Cam know, and waited, for something.

"Keep breathing," Cam said, it occurring to him he should say something; it was probably time for that.

Hunter leaned his head forward, closing the distance –_why -_ and-

A warning blared in his mind; there was something, a sound, and he shoved the crimson ranger away, ducking into his chair just as the door to his lab burst open. A mildly dirty Dustin entered the room, pausing to laugh at Hunter lying down on the job before he demanded their grilled cheese preferences. He grabbed Cam and dragged him from the room, insisting a little kitchen time would be good for his rapidly fading, never-existing illness.

Unfortunately Hunter joined them only five minutes later, and Cam was forced to deal with the growing feeling of unease that followed him. The knowing eyes and the weakness, the confusion, the uneasiness.

Cam was unsure whether he had just gained an ally or an enemy, so he did a mental system recovery and operated under his previous settings, open for adaption, but keeping one primary directive in mind, no questions, no qualifiers.

For now Hunter was his friend, but if he strayed towards Dustin…

Enemy.

No question.

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><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

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><p>Endnotes:<p>

So…Rogue had this suggestion that we make Hunter less of a dick. And then this happened, and we all agreed the story was much better for it.

Of course, this means there will be more new material in the future, but it's for the greater good and all that, right?

In other news, found out were the idiom "going postal" came from. Also "Ape sh#t crazy", but that's less important.

**On "recouped"(Which was totally cut, by the way):**

Vampire: "Recouped?"

Rogue: "Do you mean recovered?"

Me: "Recouped: to regain or recover."

*silence*

Me: "This is a real word."

*more silence*

Me: _"Fine_."

*changes it to "recovered"*

Damn you peer pressure.

**On ",and":**

Rogue: "Okay, I'll allow this _', and'_. Your trickery worked, but I won't be so understanding next time!"

*literally the next sentence*

Rogue: *edits away* "Told you so! Mwahahaha!"

**On Rewrites:**

Me: "_'Dustin,' he began through clenched teeth, 'is…'_"

Rogue: "Mine. End of discussion. Now, I really don't _want_ to inflict bodily harm on you, but I feel I'm going to have to. Really, this hurts me more than you."

Me: *evil smile* "Really."

**On "his most private of places" (which I'm pretty sure was also cut):**

Rogue: "Oooh…sounds tawdry."

Vampire: "This sent me into a fit of giggles. Not sure whether you intended the *ahem* hidden meaning or no, or if my dirty mind is just reading _way_ too much into this but yeah… Hunter is *totally* inviting him in."

Me: *glares* "You guys are finding this far too amusing."

Vampire: *sheepish* "Sorry."

Rogue: *happily* "I'm not."

Vampire: *tries to stifle giggles* "Need to stop laughing now…"

Me: *dismayed* "It was a _throwaway _line."

"The other" count (chapter): 0

"The other" count (cumulative): 23

Until next time.


	15. No Good Deed

Chapter 15

No Good Deed

I don't own Wicked.

Take's place after Samurai's Journey.

Forwardnotes: I got another beta reader! That's right, my army is slowly growing, and soon we shall take over this story! Evil laughs will be had by all.

So anyway, on top of thanking the wonderful Rogue Ranger and the intuitive real vampire for their contributions, I would like to thank Valkyrie Nyght for volunteering her services.

All remaining errors are totally mine.

We are cooking with gas now : )

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><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

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><p>Hunter had been surprised by how quickly spending the afternoon with Cam and Dustin had made him all domesticated; a feeling of content-ness and home rekindling those old aches lurking inside him. He had almost felt guilty halfway through because he was here and Blake was at home alone, and <em>maybe<em> Hunter shouldn't have chosen spiting Shane over Blake's happiness. Yes, both Bradley brothers could do the alone thing fine but- well, this wasn't something Hunter should be indulging in. Not in Blake's stead. The navy ranger could have done his homework at the Ops; Dustin was. It probably wasn't his best idea, but it had been so tempting. Shane's bitterness alone had been worth it, his face -just, _priceles_s.

Something about Shane made him more impulsive, less interested in long term effects. If the red ranger ever figured that out (if he ever managed to extract his head from his ass) he could use that against Hunter. And even though the blond knew better, he would fall for it, because Shane's grumpy face was one of the few things that really highlighted his day. Which was…sort of depressing and _kind_ of confusing if he paused to think about it, but he wasn't going to do that anyway so he took what he could get.

His glass may be full of toxic sewage waste water, but at least it wasn't empty damnit.

What Hunter had not expected, after he battered the guilt into a quiet corner of his mind, was for there to be any sort of hang ups. Lazy Saturday right? He had even started cleaning without complaining (okay, with minimal complaining, but he couldn't let Cam think he was completely in charge, even if he was; it was the principal that mattered), because he was a team player. Dusting? Done, because he was a _team player_. Sweeping? Flawlessly executed. No funny business going on here. Nope. Check it out Shane; Hunter had been alone with Dustin the Impressionable and Cam the Moderately-Physically-Impaired and neither one of them had been corrupted by his presence. No one had been hit on, no one had been scarred for life, everything was just peachy.

Except it wasn't. For the record it wasn't actually Hunter's fault; he had a witness to prove it. And it wasn't like Cam hadn't been interested in Dustin's notes either, so their curiosity towards the yellow ranger's problems was totally within the realm of concerned teammateship. Hunter didn't look too closely at this interest. It was a good thing; no need to worry about it.

So…bonding. Weird experience, but it happened. Were Hunter more compassionate, it would have been painful to see how torn up Dustin was over his educational hurdles. To have someone so aware of what their problem was and trying to fix it with no results, just because they didn't know how to make it better.

Hunter knew a thing or two about broken people (being that he was one; first-hand experience, he would never claim any different). He and Blake had figured out long ago, when this "team" thing had become permanent, that there was a certain set of issues that would probably need to be addressed, simply because of who they were. The power struggle between he and Shane, Cam not being a ranger (or, to clarify, his bitterness of the fact), Tori being the only one on the team with _common sense_ (excusing romantic slip ups), Cam and Hunter's lack of social skills, and of course, Dustin's lack of smarts.

And impulse control. And like, brain-to-mouth filtering.

His Dustin-ness, for lack of better word.

It was going to come back and bite them in the ass at some point; Hunter was just glad it happened off of the battle field, over something that was fixable.

And this…this shit was primo fixable. Cam had started the moral boost and Hunter had taken it home with some one-on-one tutoring, never fearing a lack of patience because this was important. They were a team and if they wanted to finish off that bastard who killed his parents (and he really, _really_ wanted to do that, thanks) he could put aside a couple of hours to explain factoring.

The voice in the back of his head that sounded suspiciously like Blake attempted to point out that if he really felt that way he would stop messing with Shane, but it was Blake, and therefore had no credibility (so that wasn't true; Hunter loved his brother a ridiculous amount, this was just the only way he could express his affections and it never need be discussed out loud, really).

It wasn't bad. In fact it even helped advance plan _'Double-date-is-really-great'_ (Hunter had come up with the name for the specific purpose of making Blake's eye do that special twitching thing; which was a success, by the way) in that he got to establish a better rapport with Dustin. Like the Special Olympics, everybody won (including Cam, because his floors, _spotless_). With everything so peachy-keen Hunter went ahead and shot for gold, waiting for Cam to leave the room while he asked Dustin on Date Attempt Number 2. Which, not that he was a bragger, was enthusiastically received. Because Hunter was a catch, and a gentleman, and seeing movies while being graced with his presence was a freaking _treat_, alright? Suck it Shane; this guy was a winner.

Of course, with thoughts like that it was only natural for the issue of "Dustin-ness" to rear its ugly head again and Hunter forgot that, in addition to his other flaws, Dustin was incredibly _terrible_ at picking up social cues. Not that Hunter (or Cam, we need not forget Cam) was very good at them themselves; they just knew when to keep their mouths shut. Dustin had the misfortune of not even _seeing_ them, and jumping from point A to point G with such conviction that no one had the heart to tell him about all the other missing letters.

Which was how Cam got invited to their date. And then subsequently discovered their date. And then somehow or other Hunter was back to getting lectured about his _evil influence_ and, damnit, that would _not_ flow. He'd heard enough of that from Shane.

And the hits just kept coming, because right in front of him; Cam, that guy who reveled in logic and reason, who understood – he didn't always like it but he _understood_ – lost himself, surrendered to his emotions right in front of Hunter. Hunter hadn't seen it coming, but just like that it clicked. The sudden illness, the dazed look in the tech's eyes, the aversion and the embarrassment and the blatant confusion.

Hunter was not usually adept in social situations, but he knew a thing or two about broken people. Lost people.

And they were hopeless, weren't they? Both pining after Dustin (alright, he wasn't pining, but Cam definitely was), who was a _maybe_ at best (and Hunter knew that some of Cam's argument had merit, that Dustin could be pushed into it), and all three of them were dysfunctional compared to modern society. Cam was drowning and Hunter knew that feeling. He knew the uncertainty that came with it (and on the inside he was panicking because he wasn't good at these things, _he wasn't_, he just said the first shit that came to mind; whatever Shane would have said if he wasn't a homophobic jerk), and tried to reach out.

It wouldn't be perfect (because he knew he couldn't commit completely, not at the beginning, and Cam couldn't either), but he could try to redeem himself for his past mistakes; he could try to help Cam. Hunter wasn't good at a lot of things, but he knew a lost soul when he saw one, and maybe they could be maladjusted and incomplete together. Cam could take the lead; Hunter didn't care, but at the very least he could _try_.

There was an opportunity for this to go very, _very_ badly. It was a risk, but-

Even if it went south, Hunter would deserve it (trusting evil space ninjas, and all that), and his debt would be repaid. Not the best outcome, not compared to the alternative (Which was what? Sunshine and rainbows? Permanent Shane angry face? A companion – _wow_, how pathetically hopeful was he), but it could be worse.

He would be fine just so long as he didn't think about it too hard.

_Yes,_ the Blake-voice said, _that is the mindset of a true victor._

**_Shut up Blake; go back to pining over your stupid girlfriend_.**

The voice laughed at him again, and Hunter shook his head, keeping disengaged and _not_ worrying about any growing signs of insanity.

He was fine. They would be fine. This would work.

And nobody would get hurt.

Win-win.

-:-:-:-:-:-

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Dustin had thought by now he had figured out the formula for how things worked. And by formula, he meant timing, and by worked, he meant Lothor's attacks. And by figured he meant…figured.

Yeah, that one was pretty much right.

It was to Dustin's understanding that, taking into account everything that had happened, whenever really big stuff went down, it went down on a Thursday. Cam and his experiment in the park that went terribly, the whole thing on Toxipod's island, Snipster's attack…when they caught Leonard. See, all the important stuff, all on Thursdays.

Okay, so there were still all the times the Thunder Ranger's had attacked them _before _Thursday, and even their run in with the evil pig guy had happened on a _Saturday_, but Dustin had been _really_ hoping that whatever power that was watching over them would just agree with him for once and let the next monster attack happen on Thursday so he could get in his Hunter-Cam movie bonding time with yummy popcorn and happiness abounds.

He should have known better.

Instead of happy movie time they got a monster attack, and it was a doozy. Mad…tropolis, that was his name, attacked and zapped away all their powers, and then Cam zapped their powers back (but only temporarily), and then the temporary wore off and they were completely _without_ powers facing up against a giant angry monster that was getting ready to crush them, and then Sensei froze time, and Cam was gone, and Dustin was worried because Cam was gone and while he was awesome he was still alone somewhere without any backup and he probably couldn't zap himself any power because he had already wasted it on _them_ and then Dustin felt a little selfish because if he had _known_ they were going to fail horribly he would have just stepped out of the battle and given his energy to Cam.

It wasn't like he had done anything useful with it anyway; all he did was attack Shane and the Thunder Rangers, and then he got knocked around a bit. Complete waste of zappy power.

Sensei had managed to teleport them back to Ninja Ops while time was frozen and Dustin felt like he'd tried to do a 20 mile run at break-neck speed and all he could do was pass out against Shane while Cam did all the hard stuff and feel terrible about it. If it was him out there Cam would have been backing him up (somehow, he would find a way) but all Dustin could do was sit.

It was stupid.

And then all the stupid went away when Cam came back, with the power, which turned out to be another morpher, and it was _his_, and if he had had more energy Dustin would have happily jumped up and down and cheered and danced and given everyone (including Sensei) a big fat "I told you so." Even if he hadn't out loud, he had always called it in his mind. Cam was finally a ranger, which he totally deserved, far more than anybody else on the team. Dustin couldn't really describe how he felt about it, but if he had to, he would say he was proud. Proud that his friend, someone who had been working so hard, finally got what he had been dreaming of, and he was also proud that he got to share a uniform with someone who was so amazing at everything he did.

Maybe if he got lucky, a little of Cam's genius would rub off on him.

It already had, a little bit; after all _he_ was the one who came up with the idea for how they should get their powers back, and it even _worked_, which was definitely an added bonus.

Oh, and Lothor's Cam's uncle…or Sensei's brother, except he's _not_ anymore because he's evil and that was the rules, but Cam's still a little weirded out by it so Dustin added that to the list of things he needed to take care of later and prepared to celebrate. Unfortunately, after Cam's big reveal, they didn't get the chance to give him the congratulations he had earned and most certainly deserved because Lothor was still a big fat jerkface and decided that he wanted to celebrate in _his_ way, and that meant they had to deal with multiple monsters popping up which they needed to take care of before they went on a rampage.

One monster, okay, Dustin would have been cool with that, but like, six? It was jank. Cam was finally on the team and Dustin wouldn't even get to work with him because they had to split up?

It was _so_ messed up.

Everything had been going fine, but then the monsters un-blew up and they got called back to Ninja Ops and Dustin found out that Cam was totally _not_ fine. Some overgrown bug had stung him and made him all splotchy and there was hair growing out of his hands and if it wasn't for Shane's steady hand against his shoulder he would have been all over him, mother henning it up like there was no tomorrow (which, for all he knew, there wouldn't be).

Before Dustin could sufficiently express his concern, a monster got big and they had to go fight it; Tori reminding him that he couldn't do anything for Cam (which just made him feel _tons _ better), but the guy fended for himself, undoing whatever voodoo had been done and helping them save the day, like it was supposed to be.

Dustin hugged him, first chance he got, happy that everything turned out okay.

And that had been how he'd spent his Wednesday.

They were too distracted to reschedule happy-movie time.

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

-:-:-:-:-:-

Obviously stepping up to ranger status required a fair bit of schedule adjustment on Cam's part. On top of his expected day-to-day duties of zord maintenance, coding, experiments, and communications work, he was required to not only monitor, but also participate in all ranger training as well as any team meetings that were called, whether they be for practical purposes or social calls (though he had strongly argued against his required presence at the latter, seeing as he already had, as the phrase put it, "his hands full").

To add to this, his father had persisted in his private training, allowing him to "catch up" (something he greatly objected to, seeing as he had proven that he was at the very least on the same level as the other rangers).

Early on, in a moment of weakness, Cam had allowed himself brief comfort in the delusion that he was capable of handling all the new duties handed to him in stride. Surely with his intelligence, strength, and total devotion to Ninja Ops and the team, he would be able to juggle it all with ease, or, if the worse came to it, with only moderate difficulty.

After a week and a half of this adjusted schedule, he came to the conclusion that he had been sadly mistaken.

Despite his previous assumptions, he was not Superman. In comparison to his teammates (he didn't call it ego when it was stating the truth), maybe. In comparison to what he needed to fulfill his new job essentials, he fell incredibly short.

It all came down to two, frustrating and unalterable facts.

They were that, one, no matter _how_ much he willed it, desired it, or focused on it, eventually his body needed simple things like _rest_ and _sustenance_ and _bathing_ which had seemed all so insignificant and unaffecting in his pre-ranger days but were now biting out huge chunks of his time that he _could_ be utilizing in a much more efficient manner. Like sleeping? When had _that_ come to steal so much time away? Who in their right mind had eight hours to waste doing nothing?

So far he had managed to cut his down to five, sometimes four on a good day, with coffee and caffeine pills substituting what he missed out on, and he _would_ have put effort into researching a way to whittle off even more hours if he had had any time to spare on it. As useful as it would be in the long run, it affected the short run too drastically.

This tied into fact number two; there simply was not enough _time._

Cam couldn't fix that. Hours slipped by without him noticing, even working full speed, and he had to shove his duties as technical support, along with all his training into one day and it was slowly taking a greater and greater toll on him.

Surely his father had noticed it by now, but had yet to comment on it.

And all _that_ was discounting any of his social commitments. The biggest of these being what he had deemed as the "Hunter-problem".

It was basic (it _had_ to be basic or Cam wouldn't be able to cope with it; had to remove most of the humanity from it just to make it bearable).

Hunter wanted companionship (initially; it didn't matter what he wanted after). Hunter had attempted to fill this desire for company with Dustin, something he had yet to properly communicate to the yellow ranger. Cam, for reasons he could not properly describe, _didn't_ want to give the blond the opportunity to date Dustin. He had conveyed this to Hunter who in turn, through a series of quick deductions, reasoned that Cam, in turn, was himself an option to fill his social deficiency.

There was more to it than that. So much _painfully_ more, but he couldn't…it was too much. All of it. All of _this_.

Cam realized that this was blatantly a coward's alternative, but with everything that was being demanded of him, all his skill and time and energy that was required for the team; he could keep this one selfish thing for himself. Yes, he distantly recognized he could be throwing something away here, something valuable, but then the thought of _Dustin_ hit him, strong and fierce and just as indiscernible as Hunter and his…things, and surrendering to the irrational felt like the only valid option. If Hunter got bored with him he could turn his attention back towards the mechanic, and the steady mantra of _no-no-no-no-__**no-no**_ crashed over Cam every time he dared to think it, twisted his gut, because he couldn't- so therefore the only logical choice to prevent it, to preserve the yellow ranger as he was, was to simply neglect informing Hunter of his waning interest. Because there was no interest. And he honestly didn't have the energy to bother delving into _that_ bucket of worms.

It would not be a profitable choice of action, Cam was sure. Short-term, at best. Lacking the ability to go any longer but-

It felt like the right choice (even when it didn't, but he couldn't- he couldn't deal with _that_). Cam would happily sacrifice his privacy so long as he was guaranteed Dustin's peace of mind.

So the plan was set then.

Unfortunately, with all of his new duties, Cam hadn't even had the opportunity to _interact_ with Hunter. And he needed to; he needed Hunter not focused on Dustin and he needed to upgrade the zords and he needed to train and he needed to-

So much. There was so much and so little to do it with.

That was why, late one night, when he finally slumped over his desk, overcome with exhaustion, Cam decided something about this matter needed to be done.

The only question left was what?

He couldn't _make_ more time; he didn't have time to even _begin_ to contemplate the specifics (as entertaining and beneficial as it would be) necessary to pull off such a feat and eventually (despite his the ranger energy coursing through him) his caffeine abuse was going to start having adverse effects on his body, so he needed something to help he could produce relatively quickly. It was times like these where he sincerely wished that just _one_ of his friends were a little smarter. As usual, this thought was followed by an immense surge of guilt, but the idea always remained. If just one of them knew…just _something_, how to manage the zords, or input data, or _know_ how to use (and be trusted enough to use) his computers in order to input the data, he would be able to have enough time to himself to really _think_.

If he was really lucky, he might be able to breathe too.

_If only,_ he thought, flicking an odd clump of lint as he attempted to motivate himself to begin the journey to his bed, _If only there were two of me. Then other me could do all this junk while I focused on the team._

He didn't really think about it much, not the technical implications at least. He simply amused himself with the idea of clone him doing all the dirty work. Maybe clone him could be the one to…deal with Hunter. And then clone-him could sweep (if Dustin ever didn't) and dust (because he wasn't going to) and clone-him could even do the meditations his father forced on him to ensure he _"sustains a calm and steady disposition"_ because who really needed that anyway?

And then _he_ could train and laugh and smile and joke with the others and maybe try and find a way to con Dustin into sleeping in his bed again.

The last part took a few seconds longer to process due to his sleep deprivation, so for sanity's sake (to repeat, he _was not_ Superman) Cam concentrated his attention on his first train of thought.

If only he had a clone of himself.

The cloning process itself was highly controversial, and to be honest, not in an area that Cam was strongly suited for. He was more of a chips and circuits kind of guy, which lead him to the idea of…robot?

No, not a robot; he loathed even the idea of focusing on a robot. He was far too preoccupied with managing the zords and power disks to be able to throw anything together that would be durable enough for what he needed and besides, a robot would only be able to focus on one task at a time, at least physically. Its compiler on the other hand, if hooked into the Ops computers, would be able to run a plethora of programs simultaneously. To be able to move and manage what he needed he would require constant teleportation (which would assuredly wear out the machine) unless-

Unless it wasn't chained to one specific holding unit. Instead of a "body", the program could generate a temporary (perhaps even semi-permanent) physical representation of itself in order to carry out any tactile interaction required of it, then, when finished, it could simply withdraw itself back into the mainframe and continue its business there.

The possibilities were endless. If Cam actually managed to pull off this…hologram, it would have to be; it would be able to materialize within the full reach of his network, which aside from Ninja Ops included his vast system of cameras and monitors.

What had started as a wishful hope was beginning to fabricate itself into a very profitable and life saving scheme. He could create a holographic representation of himself to take care of Ninja Ops' technical requirements; he had already unknowingly started to create an A.I. to assist in supervising his day-to-day routine, he could simply build on that.

With a second wind secured, Cam shrugged off the remnants of his exhaustion, popping a few more caffeine pills before setting down to work. If he finished this, successfully, he could finally get down to the wonderful, wonderful business of sleep.

He was proud that he was able to dare to dream of such a thing.

* * *

><p>-:-:-:-:-:-<p>

* * *

><p>Endnotes:<p>

**On Hyphen Education:**

Rogue: *please with self* "Lookie! If you type – and then hit enter, it becomes an extra long hyphen! Isn't this exciting!?"

Me: "I have honestly never seen this. Hold on, I want to try-"

Me: "…It didn't do it."

*disappointed pause*

Me: "…you lied to me." *pouty face*

PS: I totally works if you put a space before the hyphen. So yeah…not a liar.

Rogue, I give you back your honor.

**On "not worrying about signs of growing insanity":**

Rogue: *happy* "I tell myself this every day! The voices in my head agree that I'm not insane."

Me: "It's always good to be confident."

Rogue: *smiles* "We agree."

**Things I learned:**

1. Jank is indeed a word (which I suspected, but have now confirmed).

2. "reap" and "rear" should not be confused.

3. "damnit" is one word. Which I should have known, but you know, didn't.

4. Hunter doesn't get to be awesome yet. I have to wait.

"The other" count (cumulative): 23

Until next time.


	16. All I Care About Is Love

Chapter 16

All I Care About is Love

I don't own Chicago, the musical

Thanks for the patience and efforts of my two beta readers, the real vampire and ValkyrieNyght. Ladies, your hard work is always appreciated, and any mistakes/funky-wordings/misuses-of-grammar that remain are strictly mine. And if you guys are looking for more Ninja Storm stories you should definitely hit up the real vampire's "My Brother's Keeper". It makes for _very_ good reading.

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><p>When Shane went to have his weekly status report with Cam (there was no specific time set; it usually occurred whenever the green ranger could fit time in for him on Saturday) he found the team's newest member passed out on top of his keyboard, hands still posed for work as he caught up on what was obviously much needed sleep.<p>

Frowning, Shane caught sight of a caffeine pill bottle, lid discarded and contents mostly gone. With a sigh he closed it, setting the bottle off to the side while taking a look around the lab. It had grown much messier since his last visit, confirming his fears that Cam (as much as his friend denied it) simply had too much work to do and while he wasn't fond of actual cleaning, he _was_ fond of being _clean_ and the clear disregard for his usual preferences meant that things in the world of Cam were getting pretty chaotic.

Finishing his examination Shane went on to think of how to tackle A) Cam right at this moment, and B) Cam's apparent long term habit of exhausting himself.

Both were important, but Shane settled his attention on the more short-term of the two.

By the looks of it (and based on the fact he hadn't woken up as soon as Shane entered the room), Cam needed this sleep desperately, so waking him was not an option. The red ranger wasn't sure how long Cam had been passed out over the desk but he _did_ know the other teen hadn't chosen his position consciously; being that it looked extremely uncomfortable. Well, that made Shane's choice very easy. He needed to move Cam. Preferably to a bed.

Shane would work on the second problem after that.

After he picked up his friend, the trip was an uneventful one, even with the added worry of not jostling Cam. It was the actual getting him _on_ the bed part that seemed to be the complication. Shane got as far as the laying him down when he discovered that Cam had a vice-like grip on his shirt and even as his legs hit the bed he refused to pull his head away from Shane's chest, instead clinging tighter and giving off a small humming sound that said he strongly opposed the detachment. Shane's attempts to pry away the green ranger's fingers were only met with more of the protesting sounds that he had been steadily ignoring, until Cam decided to kick it up a notch and mumbled, "_No_…"

It was soft, but distinctly audible and sounded…It sounded sad.

It wasn't angry or… stubborn or lazily seeking out warmth-

It was simply _sad_, and something about Cam's tone made Shane freeze on the inside, forcing him to stop and really take a look at Cam.

The tech was distressed, brows furrowed, hands clenched and he clung on desperately, murmuring quietly, begging, "…_please_."

Shane wasn't sure why it surprised him; why Cam's subconscious desire for comfort or support seemed so bizarre. Sure, it was Cam, but he was still human, and like everyone else he needed a little contact from time to time. Seeing as Cam was a private person and his father was currently a guinea pig, he had been starved of that.

Cam would deny it if he was awake, assuming if he ever knew or heard about it, but in that moment Shane knew he couldn't leave his friend alone.

Not when he had to spend the majority of his life that way.

Cam was an elusive study, obsessed with control, and _clearly_ the only reason Shane even knew that things were _this_ bad was because Cam had gone and worked himself into the ground. Hopefully that wouldn't happen too many more times in the future, not after he talked with him about it when he was back to his regular normal self. That took care of one problem, but it still left him with the issue that the team support needed…some support.

Shane had thought they were doing better. They had regular meeting about the team, both in person and via morpher. Cam had let him begin tutoring him in the ways of skateboarding; they were both protective over Dustin, and that was only the stuff _he_ had involving Cam. He knew Tori spoke to him at least once a day and Dustin was practically at Ninja Ops every night (when work allowed it), so what were they missing?

What were they not giving Cam that he needed so desperately?

Maybe it was the whole 'living alone' thing that bothered him. Sure there was Sensei, but he mostly stayed in the main room of the Ops, choosing to stay in his habitat. Unless Cam visited that room often (something Shane sincerely doubted because he seemed to be living in his lab), he was pretty much on his own.

That _could_ be it, or maybe he just needed more hugs or something.

Course changed, he pulled Cam back towards his side, instantly earning a contented sigh of relief from the tech before he continued his adventures in dreamland, much happier than before. Shane smiled fondly at the sight (this was as unguarded as he had ever seen Cam) and before he realized it he was running his fingers through the tech's dark hair, as he had seen Cam do with Dustin many a time and Shane gently pulled his hands away before the other teen could get too accustomed to it.

He liked Cam, but he was _not_ going to pet his hair for the next four or so hours.

The shoes (both his and Cam's) and the single pair of glasses came off with relative ease, flung carelessly onto the floor in an unorganized fashion (excluding the glasses; they were placed on the bedside table) before Shane arranged Cam and himself underneath the blankets. Cam settled down beside him, seemingly content to just have another person _there_, and gave another satisfied sigh before completely collapsing into sleep.

For the most part Shane took it as a sign that he shouldn't have gotten up as early as he had. Sure, wanting to get to Cam while he had time had its merits and he wouldn't take arriving early _today_ away because it helped out his friend, but as he shut off the lights and was enveloped in immense darkness, he decided that the world was trying to give him an excuse to get a few more hours of sleep.

And _that_ was something he was more than willing to do.

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Hunter hadn't seen Cam in over a week.

Wait, no, that wasn't true. He'd seen him, at trainings and at debriefings and he'd even managed to finagle him into a thirty second phone call until Cam realized it was purely for social reasons and hung up claiming he was "_Too busy to deal with his stupidity"._

Harsh as the words and his tone was meant to be, Hunter couldn't help but feel all warm and snuggly on the inside because Cam's undertone had totally been _'Thank goodness I'm busy because if I wasn't then I would have to force myself to not flirt with you for a while you hunky-hunk-hunkerson'._

Okay, so Hunter might have paraphrased him (and channeled Dustin a little) but Cam was definitely feeling something along those lines. Ever since the almost-kiss (how long ago was that? Two weeks?) Cam had been acting especially snippy towards him, which anyone who wasn't Hunter would take as a sign that he didn't like him, but the crimson ranger knew better. The extra-mean was a cover up. Cam wasn't entirely sure how to approach the blond anymore, he was confused (even though Hunter knew he was gay and _Cam _knew he was gay _and_ he knew _Hunter was_ bi and into him) and until he could decide how to approach the situation he was going to take the safest route and just push the blond away.

But this was a good thing. _This_ meant he was at least considering it. If he wasn't interested in Hunter at _all_ he would have already shot him down, seeing as Cam was brutally honest and couldn't care less about the feelings of people who weren't Dustin.

Instead he was all stricken over it, which was, in Hunter's opinion, not too shabby for about five minutes worth of work.

His end game was to grow on Cam slowly over time, kind of like a rock in his shoe or something. Sure it would hurt when you step on it the first few times, but after a while you don't even notice it.

Were Blake to voice his opinion on any of Hunter's actions he would say that by occupying whatever spare time Hunter had with thoughts of Cam was his way of denying the status of their world. Which _was_ as remarkably stupid as it had sounded, especially coming from his younger brother, and Hunter was more than willing to tell Mr. Smartypants so. Hunter knew _exactly_ what was happening. They were ninjas, they were protecting the planet from the guy that killed their parents and in order to do this more effectively they had teamed up with a rag-tag group of shinobi novices that were slowly becoming less irritating to deal with. And, while handling _that_ particular feat, they had to claw tooth and nail whatever money they could scrounge together to keep living in that pathetic excuse for an apartment they shared.

See, see that? _That_ was totally accepting the status of one's life. He was not in denial, he didn't think anything was prettier or uglier than it actually was, it just, _was_. That was it. No more, no less.

And this thing with Cam was _helping_ the tech work through the _omg-homosexuality-heartattack _phase of his life, which was a _nice_ thing to do, and not at all an attempt to deflect his attentions from things like his own feelings on their new friends or being brainwashed a couple times or that lingering doubt that maybe Hunter wasn't as good as he so proudly boasted he was.

Because it _wasn't_.

Cam was gay; Hunter was bi, and there was a gleaming opportunity to interact in an especially sexy way that benefited both of them. And Cam would stop freaking out. That one first though; he wasn't that big a dick.

And as an added bonus - when it was all said and done Shane would probably have this wonderful look of horrified confusion on his face before his brain exploded from that narrow-minded state of being he seemed so happy to sport, and then maybe Hunter could take over the team while he was too busy being a sobbing mess in the corner.

You know, usual stuff.

He knew Blake would scoff at his ideas, and that girlfriend of his would probably be throwing some glares around and Dustin would be using his puppy eyes, but it was _all for the best_. Shane would come out of it stronger, with new and improved character. Hunter would have someone to make out with, and maybe Cam wouldn't be so snappy all the damn time.

Win-win-win. What could possibly go wrong?

Grinning underneath his helmet, Hunter pulled off the track after he finished his lap, moving to where he'd stowed his gear so he could get a drink of water. It was a good day to ride and Hunter had gotten up early so he could get some time in. Not usually a pleasure he would allow himself; he should be trying to fit in more hours at Storm Chargers, but if he wanted to keep his edge on the competition he really did need to practice, as much as he insisted (to Blake) that he didn't.

Normally he would have waited for later and used the morning to sneak in some extra labor as a stocker at the local grocery store, but he had plans today. He had given Cam his space and plenty of time to work himself crazy, and now it was time to pay him a visit, make sure he hadn't completely run into the ground and maybe bring him a late lunch or something. Like a peace offering. He didn't want to force anything but… he liked Cam.

(And he really _did_ like Cam; he was witty and sarcastic and didn't expect things like normality and other stuff Hunter couldn't give him).

Clearly it was going to be a long road for Cam to deal with his…emotional…sexual issues, but Hunter was willing to wait for him, willing to be there to help him along.

And not because he was avoiding things but simply because it would have been _nice_ if someone had done that for him at some point in his life. Unusual for Hunter to be so generous, but he figured if he wasn't at least going to attempt to be a decent person with his new team then maybe he really _should_ defect to Lothor, because at that point he would be about just as good as him.

Shaking his head to ward off those less-pleasant thoughts, Hunter looked at his watch and frowned, startled that so much time had passed. It was already 12:30 and he was still out here?

_Okay, what's the plan? _

He could do a few more laps, leave the track around 1:00, go home, shower, have a snack, get some homework done, pick up some food and be at the Ops around three or four to bug Cam time before they had training.

Hunter shut his water bottle and tossed it into his bag, then jetted back onto the track, increasing his speed to intimidate the other riders.

He might not be as competitive a racer as his brother was, but they still needed to know who was boss.

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He didn't want to wake up.

Ever since Cam had begun to run himself ragged, in the few moments he _had_ managed to snag for sleeping purposes he hadn't wanted to wake up even though he knew he had to.

But it was different this time.

Something…Was he rested?

As he began to stir into complete consciousness, shedding the haze of dormancy, he realized that as opposed to his usual battles with waking he actually felt…refreshed.

This fact did not bring him any comfort.

If he was rested then that meant he'd overslept, which meant he was behind on work and he wouldn't have everything he needed to get done completed before training tonight. He would have to scramble to make up for the time he'd lost and if his father even gave the smallest _hint_ that he needed to meditate today there was going to be a great deal of explaining to do to the rest of the team, because Ninja Ops would be in shambles from the meltdown that would follow thereafter. Thoroughly awake (Cam had assumed, but was proven wrong a few seconds later) he craned his neck to see exactly how much time had wasted in his sloth. It took a moment for him to realize that he actually had to struggle to view his clock, and then it took another few seconds for him to realize _why_.

Distantly, Cam was aware that there _had_ to be a logical explanation as to why Shane appeared to be contently resting next to him, in his _bed_, but for the life of him he could not discover what it _was_. Granted, there was the slightest possibility that Cam hadn't been conscious for the affair, because the last thing he recalled had been him willing his fingers to keep up with the furious stream of code blazing through his mind and then nothing. Were his predicament the result of his sole actions he had no doubt he would be passed out over his computer.

…maybe.

It was something he would rather not think about.

"You awake?"

The voice was quiet, and Cam resisted the urge to scoff at what a stupid question it was. Shane _knew_ he was awake, had to, so Cam wondered if it might have been posed as an opportunity to give him an out, to let him go back to sleep.

Taking a steady breath, Cam forced himself to push away all his tension, he demanded his body relax and…take the moment to enjoy what fate had given him.

It wasn't like he got to snuggle often.

(Though were they being specific about it he knew in truth it wasn't cuddling _per se_, more like a familiar closeness of proximity. Something casual like…friends maybe. Or family).

Before he could fall back into dreamland, Shane cut to the chase. "Did you get enough sleep?"

His voice fought to stay the same but Cam still detected undertones of concern, causing his frown to deepen and his desire to know the events of last night to grow.

"I'm fine," his mouth responded before his brain could formulate a proper plan for attaining this knowledge.

Shane shed some light on the situation anyway. "You weren't earlier."

_What happened earlier?_

He really hoped he had been asleep for the entire affair and not spouting off nonsense like his worries or stresses or…_Hunter_. It was the main cause of Cam's worry; saying things he should not have said, admitting something he wanted to hide.

"How long has it been this bad?" Shane asked, and while he doesn't back away from Cam he _did_ sit up some so that they are no longer lying by each other.

Did he mean the workload? How would Shane even know about that? And if he did assume Cam required m1ore sleep (desperately; he was almost surprised the others hadn't noticed it, though perhaps his skill to mask it really _was_ that good), why would he have stayed behind? Why not simply leave Cam to sleep and be done with it?

"What are you talking about?" Cam asked carefully, deciding vagueness would be a solid enough approach to help him attain the basics.

Cam couldn't see Shane's face but he could tell by the way the red ranger's grip tightened against the top of his comforter that he was frowning. "The overworking, the lack of sleep, the…" He paused, like he didn't mean to start stating the third problem and Cam could feel his heart stop, because if Shane came in on him completely out of it from fatigue he _might_ have said something he hadn't wanted to say, but then why should he panic because he's still here right and-

"…the loneliness," Shane finished anticlimactically, and Cam's heart began beating again just as his lungs remembered how to breathe.

He was going to go ahead and assume by the fact Shane hadn't started hitting on him (two months ago he wouldn't have been able to pick up on the signs of flirtation, but thanks to Hunter he was now properly educated) that by "loneliness" the red ranger meant "lack of affection", which kind of made everything click into place a little. Is also slightly relieved Cam because he did _not_ admit to his leader that he was gay on accident.

He knew he should, and would, at some point. He just didn't want to do it _now_.

Cam swallowed nervously, wondering how the red ranger had come to this conclusion. "Did I…say something?"

Luckily, this seemed to be the correct response, because Shane didn't seem at all surprised by his confusion (which meant he _did _do some sleep talking). "You asked me to stay," he explained.

It couldn't be that simple, it just _couldn't_.

…but yes, yes it could. Despite the complete lack of faith and trust Cam had put in the red ranger with in the beginning, the Shane of now was a changed person. He understood his responsibilities and he cared for his team. Even if he didn't always know the right thing to do for them, even when Shane's intentions went astray, he tried to do right by them.

And Cam was part of his team now, which meant his welfare was Shane's too.

Just as simple as that.

He glanced at the clock, struggling to think of an appropriate response, and found that it was 3:46.

3:46

…_pm_

That was _not_ a pleasant bombshell.

Before he had the opportunity to sufficiently express his distaste for his own sloth and attempt to get at least _some_ of the work he had planned today complete, Shane was in front of him, gripping both of his shoulders with a strength that would not be denied and an authority that willed Cam to do as he asked.

"I need to get to work Shane." Cam didn't plead, he merely stated, because it was true. Shane could see that he was rested; he had slept, now he _needed_ to do his job.

"Cam-" Shane started, but the tech cut him off.

"I don't have time for this."

"You don't have time for sleep?" Shane asked, attempting to sound friendly, but the subtle exasperation was clear enough.

He was aware it was something to be concerned about, that this…nap only added to the stresses of the day, but Cam couldn't allow himself to be bogged down with that now. There _was_ a light at the end of the tunnel; he just needed to reach it.

"I'm working on that," he explained quietly, willing for Shane to trust him on this one. To understand the words he didn't say, to blindly place his faith in Cam just _one_ more time. That was all he needed.

"What, are you going to make more time?"

This time his voice is full of entertainment, an attempt to make Cam see how foolish he was being.

But he wasn't.

"Not quite," he said and a feeling akin to failure settled over him, aware he was not satisfying the red ranger. He had kept Shane in the dark for too long and now the other teen wasn't sure he could trust him.

Shane sighed. "Cam, we can help-"

"No you can't!" Cam snapped before he even realized it, and then the floodgates were open and all the _garbage_ that he'd been building up came spilling out of his mouth with absolutely no filter. "I know you mean well," he began, aggravated. "And you want to help, but the bottom line is that _I'm_ the only one who can handle things around here, and you should know that _I _don't like the fact that I have to run myself ragged anymore than you do and if you would just _trust_ me you'd realize I'm trying to fix that!"

Instead of frustration or hurt he as met by a small laugh and Shane, curse him, was still as calm and collected as he was when Cam first woke up.

The apology that followed was also unexpected.

"I'm sorry," Shane replied after he had given Cam enough time to moderately calm down. "If you've got it covered, you've got it covered, but you should know we're still going to worry."

"Duly noted," Cam muttered, abashed by his sudden outburst and slightly off center. "Now," he continued, because they were finally seeing eye-to-eye. "The…sleeping thing."

Shane picked up on his hint and began to explain; releasing Cam's shoulders and leaning back as he did so. "Last night you asked me to stay," he said again and Cam fought off the urge to throw a shoe at him.

While first that would require _locating_ a shoe, that was an endeavor that would only grow in its appeal the more Shane felt like stubbornly repeating himself.

"You already said that." Cam didn't quite snap, and he could hear Shane make a placating gesture (or what he assumed to be one).

"Sorry it's just…a little hard to explain," Shane replied, and Cam was about to retort "_then try to"_ but Shane seemed to sense his aggravation so he continued, "You need it."

"I _need_ it?" Cam echoed, incredulous, still wondering how Shane had come to this conclusion, but the other teen didn't seem to want to give him any ground on that matter.

"Just trust me," Shane urged, placing a hand against his shoulder. "Everyone needs a hug now and then."

It was an opening, a perfect opportunity to move on and while Cam's brain processed this his mouth did not, and decided to point out, "That wasn't a hug."

"No," Shane agreed. "That was naptime. And sometimes…well, sometimes naptime needs company right?"

"…Right." Cam found agreeing would be the easiest on his mind this early in the morning. As Shane obviously didn't seem all that concerned with the oddity that was group naptime, Cam wasn't going to burden himself with those concerns either. It was what it was.

And there was the slightest chance it was…nice, though Cam couldn't help but feel there was a certain something missing.

Or perhaps, _someone_.

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Cam was (as Shane expected him to be) embarrassed by his need for physical interaction. Dustin had been that way too, back when they had first met, but now he was comfortable enough - and trusted them enough - to seek out what he needed from his friends. As welcoming as they were to Cam though, Shane seriously doubted the tech would take the same initiative no matter _how_ much they assured him they were okay with it.

"You're crazy," Cam finally declared, feigning annoyance to cover up embarrassment. Instead of addressing their topic of conversation any further he stood up and flipped on the lights, momentarily blinding both of them. When Shane's vision returned Cam was across the room again with his glasses on and was rummaging through one of his dressers for clothes.

Shane had to try awfully hard not to look too terribly pleased with himself. Cam was already off to a better start. Pacing himself, maybe.

As though sensing his thoughts the tech glared at him over his shoulder and slammed the drawer shut before making his way to the bathroom. He paused just before the entrance, turning with his hand on the doorknob. "If you knock and I don't answer, I am meditating." He paused for what Shane assumed was dramatic affect. "Do _not come in._"

Shane gave him a cheerful thumbs up in response, to which Cam rolled his eyes, and then the red ranger was alone in the bedroom - listening to the powerful blast of water.

He mentally reviewed his list.

Sleeping?

Done for the day.

Company?

Also done for the day (It was Cam, a little bit went a long way).

Bathing?

In progress.

All that left was food and while Shane might not be the best chef, he knew he could whip up a mean sandwich.

With a smile he hopped off the bed, quickly making his way to the kitchen.

If he had the food done by the time Cam got out there was no way he could say no.

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Shane was in the middle of weighing the benefits of mayo vs. mustard when he caught the sound of footsteps coming from down the hall. They originated from the direction of the entrance, and a moment later Hunter popped his head into the room, investigating the reason for the lights.

Confusion followed when he caught sight of Shane and he stepped completely into the kitchen, arms laden with plastic bags filled with what smelled distinctly of barbeque.

That was… unexpected. Did Hunter and Cam have some kind of secret friendship going on or something? Shane supposed it would make sense, but Dustin hadn't said anything about it and he was with Cam practically all the time. If anyone would have noticed, it would be him.

So what was this? Hunter finally got tired of Dustin not-being gay so he was going to start bothering Cam or something? Give him more to worry about. Shane didn't like it, at _all_; this was his team and he looked out for them, but Hunter was on his team too, so he couldn't start jumping to conclusions just yet.

He would ask Cam about it later.

"Looking for Cam?" Shane asked nonchalantly, forcing his voice to sound pleasant.

Hunter ignored his question, going for a round-about answer. "The others are down by the beach," he inspected the sandwich making stuff quizzically, raising an eyebrow. "You should go join them."

Shane tensed but kept his smile firmly in place. Cam wasn't Dustin; Cam didn't need his protection from Hunter.

That was right; there was really nothing to be worried about. Cam would be more than happy to thoroughly explain how _wrong_ Hunter was. Probably in as sarcastic and belittling fashion as possible. He would do a better job of it than Shane ever could. If _that_ was what this visit was about.

Now there was an idea.

The forced smile instantly became a lot more genuine, and leaving became a much more appealing option. Still, Shane knew that he wouldn't normally give in so easily so he had to put up at least _some _kind of a fight, just to make it seem legit. "And miss the barbeque?"

Cam would smack him down _so_ hard.

The blond actually smiled at that, shaking his head in mock sadness. "Sorry man, only brought enough for two."

_Sure you did_.

Shane narrowed his eyes slightly, but kept the smile on his face. "Maybe next time."

"Whatever," Hunter murmured, happy that he'd won but a little sick of the delays. "Where's Cam?"

"Shower; told me not to bother him." The response was casual, again.

He was becoming a pro.

"The cove right?" he asked, switching gears because leaving seemed to be the only remaining option for him.

"Right," Hunter replied and they exchanged their goodbyes, casual, again, and parted; Shane making his way out of Ninja Ops.

He called Cam on his way out to give him a heads up, then made his way back to his house.

After today there would be no need to worry about Hunter.

Everything would be fine.

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><p>Endnotes:<p>

So, one year and a few odd weeks ago I started on this story and I figured, since I've hit yet _another_ spring break and it has yet to be completed, I should kick myself into gear and start back up working on new chapters.

Thanks to everyone who has alerted/favorited this story since my last update, and of course, oodles and oodles of love and gratitude to Rogue Ranger and the real vampire for reviewing the last chapter. You guys are boss. Not employees or associates or underlings, purely boss.

"The other" count (chapter): 2

"The other" count (cumulative): 25

Until next time.


	17. A Change In Me

Chapter 17

A Change in Me

I don't own Beauty and the Beast, the musical.

I cannot properly express my undying thanks and gratitude for my two betas, the real vampire and ValkyrieNyght, who have been very patient in the quest of updating this old story. It's embarrassing, some of the mistakes that they catch, and if it weren't for them this story would be much worse off. If you're interested in some extra Ninja Storm slash fiction you should check out the real vampire's story "A Place Without Exception". Come on guys, that title alone has brilliance written all over it :)

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><p>Dustin was pretty sure that one of the basic rules in life was that bubbles were supposed to always lead to happiness.<p>

Except for the odd, unprecedented occasion when bubbles did _not_ equal happiness, and in fact _did_ equal a very loud and blaring reminder that intelligence was _not_ one of his strengths.

His kitchen sink looked rabid. It was foaming, and angry, and bubbling and he didn't know why or even _how_; and he had tried to look up answers on Google, but it seemed like nobody else in the world had ever even remotely had the same problem as him. Also, _"What do I do with a bubbling kitchen sink?"_ did _not_ lead to happy search results and should forever be avoided as a topic because apparently some people out there were confused with what a kitchen sink _was_ and even more confused about what the verb "bubbling" meant.

So now he had to quarantine his computer for a week and he _still_ didn't know what was wrong.

Dustin was about to chalk it up to a Lothor attack and call for the team's back up when he opened his dishwasher and immediately discovered the origin of the bubble mystery. It was an avalanche like no other, bombarding Dustin's face and moving onto the floor to conquer the rest of the kitchen tile by tile. Soon everything on the ground within a five foot radius of his dishwasher was covered with demon bubbles, innocently and maniacally attacking it all with complete disregard to proper bubble conduct.

This was _not_ how bubbles behaved.

Was this a prank? Had someone snuck in and put bubbles in his dishwasher?

No… it didn't smell like usual bubbles; that was more chemical-like and unpleasant (the one real downside to bubbles, aside from when they decided to declare war on your face and subsequently your kitchen), this smelled more like-

Coconut?

He quickly lunged, then slid, then collapsed against the cabinet under his sink, whipping it open and rummaging around its dingy innards for that new bottle of dish cleaner he had bought.

Only it wasn't dish cleaner at all; it was hand soap.

_Huh_, kind of a weird thing to mix up. So there was the answer to that question. Also, he now knew what happened when you didn't use the proper cleaning solution for its proper job.

The bubbles got angry.

Sighing, he carelessly tossed the soap bottle back into the cabinet and dug around for a bucket and a rag.

His clothes were pretty much a lost cause by this point, just like his hair and his face and especially his socks (the real comfy ones that he specifically reserved for at-home usage) so he didn't bother changing. After wiping off his face and then _re_-wiping off his face because using a soap-covered arm to clear away soap wasn't really the most effective way to do things, Dustin rummaged up a few more old towels and started covering the perimeter of the frothy mess; attempting a barricade to keep it from spreading further.

There was nothing therapeutic about shepherding bubbles into a bucket. First of all they were mean (probably because they had been misused and abused and wanted him to know they were not at all pleased by that) and secondly, they seemed to have a tendency to aim themselves more for his eyes than his actual cleaning pail. It was like an evil little game for them, every so often they would build up and he would lose control and his face would become the target of a bubble rage kamikaze attack. By the time he finished cleaning off the floor on one side of the kitchen's island he had emptied the bucket five times, had been face-attacked four, and his eyes were stinging so badly he just kind of wanted to huddle into a ball and give into his desire to cry.

He didn't fully register that there was another person in the room until they were hovering right behind him, staring at the viscous bubbles with intense fascination. Or what he assumed was intense fascination, because he couldn't really see anything right now so he was mostly just filling in the blanks as best he could.

"Dude, what happened?"

Hunter, got it; it was Hunter the cool guy. Who had now just witnessed Dustin be incredibly _not_ cool.

The mechanic shrugged sheepishly, keeping his face turned away from the blond as he herded some more foam into his bucket. "I confused dish soap with hand soap."

Hunter let out a low whistle, still taking in the waves of churning white. "I see that did not end well."

"Nope," Dustin replied, scrunching his eyes closed as he was attacked _yet again_ by the bubble brigade. Hands still slick from cleaning, he lost his grip on the bucket and it clattered to the ground while he reminded his hands that the _last_ thing they needed to do was go anywhere near his face. He exhaled sharply, trying to figure out if there was a clean spot on his shoulder left when Hunter's hand slid around his back and gripped the base of his neck. A kind of warm material was gently pressed against his eyes, wiping away the remaining soap.

When the material was pulled away Dustin risked opening his eyes, only to find that the crimson ranger was gone. He blinked again, heat still welling behind his eyes, and he turned his face away from the bubbles, attempting to…give his eyes some breathing room?

Whatever, he was getting sick of looking at this mess.

Hunter reappeared quickly, clean, dry towel in hand, and he gave it over to Dustin so that he could fix his hands-can't-get-near-face problem. Dustin gave a spastic wave to show his thanks and he was about to ask what Hunter had used earlier when the blond nodded his head towards a piece of black material Dustin hadn't previously seen that was hanging over the edge of the island. It looked like one of the over shirts he had seen Hunter wear from time to time and he instantly felt guilty for ruining (because at the rate these bubbles were going it _had_ to be ruined) his friend's shirt.

Hunter cut him off before he can say anything about it.

"Don't sweat it Dustin."

The yellow ranger snapped his mouth closed, looking away not-completely relieved.

The tall thunder brother was gone before he could find a way to express this, leaving him staring blankly at an empty space, and just as suddenly as the blond disappeared, he was back again, second bucket, rag, and two sets of rubber gloves in his hand.

Rubber gloves…yeah, that would probably make this a lot easier.

It would sure make Dustin hate his hands less.

He slipped his gloves on awkwardly (he always confused which one should go where and it never failed that no matter what he did he always put them on the wrong hands first) and Hunter moved to the other side of the island, attacking the sea of bubbles so that they would meet in the middle.

Dustin paused again and blinked in confusion, something…there was something-

Oh, that was it.

He cleared his throat hesitantly while he restarted his task, hand slowly swiping at his daemon bubbles.

"Hey uh…why are you here?"

He didn't mind Hunter being here, especially with him helping to clean up the mess Dustin had made, not that he wouldn't have hated him being here if he _wasn't_ helping him; even if the blond had chosen to just sit at the kitchen table making snappy comments Dustin would have appreciated his company (even if that would make him cry a little on the inside, and possibly the outside), but it was just-

He came here for something right?

"I need your expertise."

Dustin frowned, wondering what he could possibly know that Hunter didn't.

"On what?"

The guy was way smarter than he was.

"I want to get Cam a gift, and I figured; you know him best, so I should ask you about it."

Why did he want to give Cam a gift?

And then the rest of that statement hit Dustin and he was slightly overwhelmed by the fact that the crimson ranger thought _he_ knew Cam the best.

He took a moment to let that make him feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

Mood ridiculously cheerful, Dustin gave into his curiosity, scrubbing at his floor with renewed energy.

"What do you want to give him a gift for?"

Was it Cam's birthday? Dustin knew that the tech's birthday came before all of theirs and it was sometime in the winter, or was it the fall?

"I'm trying to ask Cam out," the crimson ranger admitted.

Well, that was good then right? Hunter was trying to reach out and become better pals with Cam. _Awesome_. Hey, maybe if he was really nice Hunter would invite him too.

Yeah, Dustin could just casually drop that into his answer.

The curly-haired teen felt a smile spread across his face, thinking of all the super sweet things they could trick Cam into doing.

"Well why don't you just ask him, that usually works for me," Dustin replied, voice cheerful. "Like, he might drag his feet a little at first but usually he's pretty good natured about that kind of thing, but…oh, he's been a little grumpy lately so you probably still want to get him that present." He blinked slowly, realizing he left something out. "Hey, uh, can I come?"

Because he did not want to miss out on happy-Hunter-Cam times.

Hunter didn't immediately respond, which worried Dustin because he didn't actually think the blond would say no. What if it was really exclusive, like what if Hunter could only score one other ticket to this super secret thing and he didn't want Dustin to feel bad and-

"Not…" Hunter began suddenly, breaking Dustin out of his thoughts. "There's so many things wrong with…" he trailed off and sighed; a particular sigh that Dustin knew from many a study session was followed by a sad head shake. "I want to ask Cam on a date."

…_what?_

It was like…an error message or something, in his head.

_Error, error, does not compute._

What did Hunter mean by 'ask on a date'?

"…What?" Dustin asked, titling his head off to the side as though his kitchen ceiling could reveal the answer he was so desperately looking for.

"A date," Hunter repeated, sounding oddly patient. "You do know what a date is right?"

Of course Dustin knew what a date was; he used to watch TV _all_ the time before he went to the Wind Academy. He'd seen plenty of different examples of good dates and bad dates and _really_ bad dates.

Yeah…TV might have scared him away from dating.

Still, he was beginning to think that Hunter might be a little confused on how the whole process worked.

"Yeah," Dustin explained, finally getting to be the one to teach something for a change. "You take a girl to the movies or to dinner or bowling or something like that, and then you drive her home and kiss her."

Actually that was just a basic outline on what happened on _most_ dates. As the earth ninja said before, some of them did not go _nearly_ that well.

There was a quiet pause from Hunter's side of the kitchen and Dustin could hear him grunt in exertion, probably his first bubble attack (the first one was the worst).

Another pause (cleaning away the shame) and then Hunter got back to him, coughing quietly. "Or a guy."

The confusion was back (was it ever really gone?) and Dustin returned to his ceiling for answers, begging it to break its silence and divulge the secrets of thunderhood he was sure it probably knew. Maybe he should call Blake; the other Bradley could probably explain it to him.

"_Or a guy…"_

It took a few seconds for Dustin to figure out a plausible way for Hunter's comment to _kind_ of fit into what he had just said, and the curly-haired teen's head began to hurt from all the contradictions.

"But then it wouldn't be a date," Dustin marveled, thinking back to all the TV shows and soaps he had seen his sister watch, and while they _did_ go through a multitude of different people (this one guy went from a blonde, to a redhead, to a brunette, to back to the same blonde again all within one week, which was pretty amazing because Dustin was pretty sure they were still brewing the same pot of coffee during all of those episodes), he definitely knew, for a fact, that there had to be a boy and a girl.

It was like, basic science.

Except that Hunter didn't like the idea of basic science (which would make him a very bad match for Cam, were Cam a girl, because appreciation for like, the rules of the universe was one of Cam's necessities, or Dustin assumed it was because Cam seemed like that kind of guy _(guy, clearly not a girl)_) so the crimson ranger countered Dustin's argument with a simple, "Yes, it would."

If Dustin had _thought_ his head was hurting earlier, it was nothing compared to what it was now. He had to put down his bucket and rag just so he could lean against the counter long enough for the spinning to stop.

No, _no it wouldn't_; he knew this, it was an _undeniable_ _fact_. Why would they put it on all the shows and books and movies if it was a _lie_?

Dustin scrubbed at his head, confused and sad and betrayed, re-soaping his face anew. He growled, throwing off his gloves and shoving his arms against his chest, sliding down and resting his back against the side of the island.

He couldn't focus on both things at once.

_Wait_, TV wasn't the only place he had gotten his info.

He perked up a little, enough to lift his head. "My sister says guys are only supposed to date girls."

And Dustin's sister, while not his biggest fan, would never lie to him. Like, ever. Even when his feelings were at stake she had always been brutally (and he meant _brutally_) honest.

Well, that should put an end to _that_ conversation.

He should start looking for his gloves again.

But Hunter, being Hunter, was by no means done.

"Dustin, do you know what the word 'gay' means?"

…or Dustin had _thought_ he wasn't done, but apparently they were going to just change the subject now.

Right then. Whatever.

Smiling brightly (now _that_ confusing conversation was finally over he could get back to work) Dustin began to explain.

"Yeah, it means lame or happy." But more often than not it meant lame. Dustin hadn't even _known_ it could mean happy until Tori had told him. "The guys at school call me that sometimes but I don't really know which definition they mean. I've never worked up the nerve to ask them." He hoped it was the happy one, not that he was ever really happy at school; he just hadn't thought he had done something that warranted being lame. "Is that right?" he asked, trying to be polite.

Hunter hesitated before replying.

"…No," he answered, sounding confused (well that made two of them). "Well, yes, it means that, but it also means that you like guys."

So there was a hidden third definition?

_Huh_…

Dustin would think a secret definition would be a little less…lame. Like, more exclusive, or something.

"So everybody's gay?" the brunette asked, scratching the side of his head.

Hunter's voice sounded startled whenever he replied.

"What?"

"Well," Dustin began, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I don't think there're that many people out there who _don't_ like guys."

In fact, the only person he could really think of who _didn't_ like guys was Lothor, but he didn't count because he pretty much hated everybody.

The head-shaking sigh was back.

"No, not like…" Hunter sighed again, and Dustin almost told him to stop cleaning because he didn't want to risk him passing out and choking to death on bubbles. "It's when a guy finds _other_ guys sexually attractive."

A few minutes later, Dustin was still blinking stupidly at his kitchen cabinets, trying to mash together the pieces of a puzzle that clearly did not belong together.

Desperate for an answer that made sense, Dustin glared in Hunter's general direction, mentally shaking a fist. "…You're playing a joke on me, aren't you?"

That had to be it, this was all some elaborate-

"You've never heard of this?" Hunter asked, sounding honestly bothered by this idea, and Dustin had to fight not to jump over the island and punch the blond in the face. While Dustin was game for a joke at his expense (he wasn't a _complete_ party pooper), enough was _enough_. He had thought Hunter knew that by now.

The yellow ranger bit back his anger, trying to go for the disappointed approach (he always felt ten times worse whenever Sensei was disappointed as to when he was mad).

"I'm going to believe you and then I'm going to go ask Shane about it and he's going to look at me like I'm crazy. Well, not today mister," Dustin lectured, wagging his finger even though the other ranger couldn't see it, and he could hear Hunter putting down his bucket with a sigh.

_Stupid sigh. Stupid Hunter._

"Dustin, this is a real thing," Hunter urged, but Dustin shook his head thoroughly, disagreeing.

"I probably would have noticed something like that." Sure, he wasn't the most observant of guys but guys like, making out with _other_ guys was something that was really hard to miss.

The closest he'd ever seen to anything like that was brotherly love and he was _pretty_ sure that wasn't what Hunter was talking about. And there was no way Dustin was going to ask him if there was any funny business going on between him and Blake. Partly because if he said yes, Dustin didn't want to be the one to tell Tori.

And it would be gross.

He didn't notice the footsteps (again, because he was too busy glaring at his bubble mess, deep in thought) and suddenly Hunter's hand was on his shoulder. Dustin turned to see the crimson ranger crouched beside him, staring at him earnestly.

"Dustin," he said, looking him dead in the eye. "_I_ like guys."

There a moment where Dustin didn't want to believe him, where this…idea, this huge thing was just too much for Dustin to understand and he just wanted to-

But that kind of…you couldn't fake honesty like that. Dustin didn't… well, ever since the whole Toxipod island thing he and Hunter had kind of bonded and he wouldn't-

He wouldn't take a joke this far would he? Not anymore.

That meant…

Hunter _like_-liked guys.

_He_- Dustin's brain went numb, and he couldn't really think about how that made him feel.

But his mouth, ever the trooper, carried on without him, and he blinked at Hunter slowly. "You're gay?"

The crimson ranger visibly relaxed (it was nice to know Dustin wasn't the only one bothered by the trust issue) but his eyes remained steady. "I'm bi."

"What?" Dustin exclaimed, rubbing the side of his head furiously. "You said-"

Hunter interrupted him before he could get too far. "I _also_ like girls."

_What?_

"Gay guys can't like girls?"

His head hurt.

"No," Hunter answered, reaching out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's the definition-"

"I'm _so_ confused," Dustin confessed and Hunter gave him a pitying look, one he often gave the brunette during their tutoring sessions.

Dustin sort of hated that look, just a little, though he supposed he had really earned it.

"Look," Hunter began, making sure he had Dustin's full attention. "If a guy only likes other guys, he's gay." He paused to make sure it computed and Dustin nodded, allowing him to move on. "If he likes guys _and_ girls, he's bi."

…Oh…okay.

"I guess that makes sense," Dustin admitted, running a hand through his hair.

If a guy only liked guys, he was gay; if he liked guys _and_ girls he wasn't gay and…wait.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, _wait_.

"…Holy crap." Dustin whispered, eyes widening in sudden realization.

That meant…if there was a word for it that meant- guys could like _other_ guys, like, _really_ like, like date _them_, instead of girls? Instead of mean, angry, soul crushing females?

(That wasn't fair. That wasn't fair in so many ways because _Tori_ wasn't a soul-crushing female and neither was his sister Liv, or Kelly, or Shane's sister Dana and he knew at school nine times out of ten a girl would be more willing and less intimidating to work with on school projects than any of the guys, were more friendly and patient and less scary- Dustin _knew _that, but he also knew he was…scared of them, a little. There was something there he was supposed to see that he didn't, he thought, by the way all the other guys talked about it, by what he'd seen on the internet and tv and movies but he didn't- and that _scared_ him. Because if he couldn't fit into normal company with a bunch of fellow males then _what chance_ did he have with ladies? He didn't, that was what. Zero chance. Negative chance. If there was a way he could _owe_ the universe chances he would have. He had just assumed he would live the rest of his life on his lonesome, no ladies, no scary, _scary_ ladies who could turn mean if they wanted to, were even more frightening than guys because they hid their meanness behind smiles, you never knew you were forbidden from their presence until they deemed you worthy enough to tell you and-)

And if he _didn't_ have to date girls…

"I didn't even know that was an option!" Dustin exclaimed, grabbing at the sides of his head because his mind had been thoroughly blown. "If I had known that I would have…"

He trailed off, unsure how to continue, because he wasn't really sure _what_ he would have done but he didn't know, _he didn't know_, and why hadn't anyone told him?

He had thought he was going to grow old and die all alone.

Hunter looked at him with that look Cam usually got when he _really _wanted to figure out the answer to some riddle or puzzle or code or something and nothing was going to stop him from doing it. Unused to it being aimed at _him_, Dustin squirmed under the stare, fidgeting slightly.

"You would have… what?" Hunter asked, enthralled, and Dustin wished he could just think of a way to end this conversation so he could go talk to Cam about this whole gay-thing.

"…Nothing," he mumbled, edging away from Hunter slowly, but the crimson ranger just followed him (see, totally like Cam) moving his other arm so that he had a hold of both of Dustin's shoulders.

The yellow ranger gulped, trying not to look at intimidated as he felt.

He failed. Not surprising, but he _was_ dealing with a thunder ranger so he thought it was reasonable.

"Dustin," Hunter asked, patient and quiet and completely serious and so different from any other time he was with Dustin that it scared him a little. "Do you like guys?"

Had Hunter asked him that when he first got here Dustin would have said yes, no problem. Dustin would have said yes and meant it because he hadn't known that-

He hadn't known he was allowed to romance a guy.

And he wasn't sure why that made a difference but it just- it _did_, okay? It did and even _his_ stupidly below-average brain could comprehend that.

Mind buzzing, the brunette tried to pull away from Hunter again (feebly, more for appearances sake than anything else but it made him feel _a little_ better).

"I…" Dustin mumbled, heat rising to his face. It was like school; he didn't know the answer and it was killing him. "Girls are mean," he settled on, staring at the bubbles.

It was inaccurate, but he could hide behind that. Dustin knew that from experience.

Hunter's voice was still serious (Dustin just…he couldn't look at him) whenever he replied. "Just because you've had bad experiences with girls doesn't mean you're gay Dustin."

Dustin hadn't known Hunter taking his words seriously would lead to his inevitable defeat. He probably should have.

But then again, what if you never, never, _never_ wanted to be around them…ever (except for Tori, and Kelly, but he never had any sudden urges to kiss them _either_).

And that wasn't true _either_ because…Dustin didn't think about romance. He had always thought it was beyond him. And just because he was uneasy around girls wasn't a reason _not_ to date them; that wouldn't affect if he wanted to like…kiss them and stuff but…

Well, he had never really _wanted_ to kiss them and stuff. He had assumed that was because he knew he never had a shot at it, so his brain had like, prepared him for it, just focused on the high points in his life, what he could achieve, but there was something about this gay-business…

There was something about it Dustin liked.

And that scared him.

"But…" Dustin mumbled, looking up at Hunter timidly as he tried to focus his brain on something else, something he _knew_. "I like _you_ guys."

Even Dustin could piece this one together. Because in just about _every_ romantic comedy the boy and the girl (or the boy and the boy, he supposed now) became best-friends before they were dating. It was obvious. At the beginning of the movie the guy would be dating some horrible female and his best friend-girl would be waiting on the sidelines, totally perfect for him but he'd be too blind to see it until the end of the movie and then there would be a romantic declaration of love and kisses and flowers and tears and sometimes a puppy, and two people who were _made_ for each other would ride off into the sunset, achieving a happiness they well and truly deserved.

To date someone, to _really_ _like_-like them, you had to know them first. Meaning you had to be friends, good ones for Dustin, and if guys were now an option…

He had four to choose from.

And you know what? He really _did_ like them. The team was his family and there weren't any other people in the world he would ever want to spend time with. He would do anything for them (_anything_, he meant it) and if something bad ever happened to them, if one of them ever…got bored of him and left, or if they got hurt…it would just kill him.

If there had been anything…any…feelings, he couldn't-

Nothing; he'd never let anything get in the way that could come between him and his friends because-

If…what if they didn't like him?

Like, _like_ him- like him.

Back outside his head Hunter was still talking, voice soothing but firm. "That doesn't make you gay either."

Yeah, Dustin being lame or being happy or _really_ liking other guys made him gay but what-?

Million dollar question, he had to ask it.

The brunette cleared his throat quietly, working up the nerve to ask what he really needed to ask. "Well, how do you know if you're attracted to…to a guy?"

Stupid, _stupid_; Dustin bet everyone in the _world_ knew this already, he was- but he _needed_ to know this. For the queasiness in his stomach, and the lightness in his head, and the instability of his world- this thing, this idea that kept-

It was like when you saw something forever and ever, and you never _really_ noticed it until someone pointed it out to you, and suddenly it was-

_Bam_, everywhere.

Hunter gave a bit of a smile, a _real_ smile, and Dustin immediately relaxed. "Usually you have these urges to make out with them."

He _knew _that but-

"I've never…" Dustin began, trying to phrase it right. "I…don't really want to make out with anyone." Because no one ever seemed to want to make out with _him_. "Or, if I did I want it to be…to be you guys but I couldn't…"

_I couldn't ruin everything._

There was a painful pause, air heavy or pulsing or whatever air got like when something monumental was about to happen and Dustin finally got the courage to stare Hunter dead in the eye. "You like guys?"

The crimson ranger nodded at the quiet question, confident in what he was. "That's what I said."

How could he…he wanted to-

Could Dustin even ask, was that even allowed?

Why couldn't he have psychic powers and be able to tell Hunter all of this with his mind?

_Because if I did his brain would have melted from frantic-thinking overload. _

And good teammates didn't break their friends' brains. That was not nice.

Dustin was hesitant, and scared, scared about everything (he hated change, it was so…different) and scared about possible punches that could be thrown to his face, but he had come this far and how could he stop now and-

"Could you…" the yellow ranger asked, trailing off, not entirely sure how but Hunter seemed to get it, to understand what he wanted because in the next second the blond's lips were against his, and Dustin had to remind himself that on top of everything else kisses were supposed to be done with your eyes closed.

There were a million different things running through his mind, and he could barely give any thought to any of them because he was trying so hard to focus on what was going on _outside_ his head. There was a hand in his hair and another on his back and it felt really good especially when _that_ spot was-

Hunter's lips were soft, but that shouldn't be a surprise because they were lips and they were _supposed _to be soft (Dustin's were soft, why should Hunter's be any exception?) and they were kind of like two of the _best_ _pillows_ _ever; _they were soft and Dustin should really be getting off how soft they were because they were moving and that felt even better than the hair-touching thing and-

Hunter pulled back and Dustin was gasping, finally realizing that he hadn't been breathing during that whole exchange. His head was still reeling but his voice begged for more, because that had felt _so_ good and why couldn't he have figured this gay thing out sooner?

"Can…" he gasped, putting on his best puppy eyes. "Can we…?"

"Do it again?" Hunter asked, smirk firmly in place. Something within Dustin flared at the sight; which was weird because that had never happened before and Hunter smirked like, eighteen times a day. He didn't get a chance to ask about it because Hunter was immediately on him again, pressing him into the counter and moving his lips in a…Dustin didn't know how to describe it; he' never-

There was a…wet!

The brunette jumped a bit, startled as Hunter broke away long enough (and Dustin may or may not have whined when it happened; he actually _wasn't_ sure) but then he figured out it was just so the blond could breathe and chuckle (stupid breathing…and chuckling) and then he comforted the yellow ranger with a small peck before getting onto that wet-

Tongue, Dustin finally realized, sliding across his bottom lip and he didn't know what to do (were his lips tasty? What if lips were _really_ tasty and he was missing out) so he opened up his mouth so he could try it and suddenly Hunter's tongue was with his tongue and _holy-goodness-that-was-so-much-better._

So…yes, to that guy-liking thing. That should feel like a world-shattering thing to discover.

Right now Dustin couldn't care less.

There was a voice in the back of his mind that was telling him that this should be gross but he drowned it out with some sweet mood music (he wasn't entirely sure what it sounded like because he usually switched the channel when he got to that part so he just kind of winged it) and he tried to hold onto the churning chaos that was now his mind, handling all these new sensations.

Just as he was starting to get the flow of things Hunter pulled back. A wave of disappointment wash over the earth ninja. Just as Dustin was about to ask for more (seeing as Hunter was so nice about it the first time) the blond pulled him up off the ground, switching their positions so that they were standing with Dustin's back against the island counter. But before the curly-haired teen got a chance to ask _why_ Hunter started doing this thing to his neck that felt _really_ awesome. Seriously, Dustin had no idea what was going on down there, but it _almost_ felt better than that feeling he got whenever he won a race. It was warm and a little wet and for some odd reason he kept feeling hot but he knew they weren't doing that much-

Hunter's hands were on his hips, one of them sliding under his shirt and rubbing against Dustin's abs in this painfully slow way that made his face feel hot and he felt a little bad because he didn't want to leave Hunter hanging because he wasn't really doing anything so he slid a hand under _his_ shirt so that he could feel his back, all muscle-y and smooth and _awesome_ and-

He almost didn't notice with everything that was going on, Hunter's leg slowly slide up between his, closing the gap between them and _everything _was touching; their legs and their chest and their arms and he was so close and-

Hunter shifted, or something shifted and brushed against Dustin's…private place and there was this… he didn't know if he should run but it felt _so_ good, hot and sparking and friction and he had almost gotten used to it maybe but then the leg really moved and-

He was across the room in an instant, huddling in a puddle of bubbles on the other side of the island, freaking out (because he had known it was going to be good but he hadn't thought it was going to be _that_ good) while his…He went through puberty, he knew the lay of the land but he didn't think-

The whole idea of somebody _else_ doing that to him sort of freaked him out.

Hence, the sudden retreat.

"Stay…you stay over…" he tried to spit out between gulps of air, trying to ignore the waves of humiliation that seemed to roll over him with merciless glee.

He should run now. Yes, it was probably running time.

Dustin just _barely_ heard the quiet sigh coming from the other side of the room over all the yelling that was going on inside his head. He quieted it down so he could listen to Hunter's declaration of hatred and the most assured challenge of fight to the death or something. Dustin was pretty sure that was what happened when you didn't hold up your end of the deal.

Hunter didn't come closer (which was good) and he didn't start throwing lightning Dustin's way (which was better). He just kind of reverted to what they were doing before the super-fun-make-out-time. The only sign that they even just _had_ super-fun-make-out-time was the slightly breathless tone the crimson ranger tried to calm him with.

"That's perfectly normal Dustin."

What was normal? The kissing part, or the running part? The running part didn't seem like something that happened all that often…ever. Like, that wasn't even from TV or movies, that was just from using his eyes whenever he went places. People made out, and then they stopped, usually when they both agreed on it and not when one of them ran away like a little ninny.

Hunter kept talking; completely recovered from their _thing_ and sounding positive for a guy who just didn't…get some. Yeah, that was the term.

Dustin had often wondered what the "some" was.

He had heard it was "The Sex", but Liv had refused to confirm that one for him.

"So, here's the good news," the blond began, happy tone contagious enough that even Dustin had to smile a little, even if he still refused to peak his head over the counter. "You're definitely attracted to guys."

But what if-

The question in his head spilled over into his mouth, blurting out unnecessarily loud. "What if it's just you?"

It probably wasn't a good question for his ego, because Hunter and Shane were pretty much duking it out all the time as it was. Dustin didn't want to give the crimson ranger any unnecessary ammunition, but he really did need to ask.

Thankfully Hunter let it slide, choosing to focus more on him. "Do you think it's just me?"

Did he?

Did…was Hunter the _only_ guy, ever, that he would ever want to-

No. He wasn't.

Dustin… it wasn't like he wanted to look at strangers and be like "yeah, I'd make out with him" but if…

He didn't want to think it, or say it, or _imagine_ it because it was…it was just so _huge_ and so-

If Cam…or Hunter, he'd…

He _liked_ them. He _really_ liked them. _Liked_-liked, and… he would-

_No_.

Just that, _no_.

Because he _liked_ kissing Hunter, he did, but Dustin knew in a _heartbeat_ that he liked Cam better. If he had to choose…

He would pick Cam.

So he couldn't just like kissing Hunter.

No, Hunter was not the exception.

"No," Dustin murmured finally, almost to himself but Hunter still caught it. The blond gave him a moment to let it all sink in. Though all that could be sunk had been sank for the day, and Dustin wasn't sure he could handle too terribly much more.

He liked guys. It felt like it changed things, it _did_ change things, but somehow he was still him.

He was still Dustin.

A silent truce was made, and Hunter finally vacated his old spot and made his way back beside Dustin, huddling down amidst the soapy waves.

"Okay," the crimson ranger began, cheerful and confident. "So there's definitely a physical attraction."

The sparky thing, yes, yes it was there.

"Now the second question is if there's an emotional one?"

Dustin actually understood what he meant, but Hunter continued on anyway, clarifying because he was a good teacher like that.

"Is there anyone who…makes you feel all warm inside?"

Dustin furrowed his brows, _now_ slightly confused. "Define warm."

He thought they covered the getting hot and sparky thing with the physical attraction, he didn't think there was any other way to get warm inside.

Hunter dutifully filled him in.

"Who do you want to spend time with most?" he asked, and Dustin nodded, finally getting it.

Playfully, with a crooked smile, Hunter added, "And subsequently wouldn't mind getting naked with."

Naked…with?

_Ah_, the elusive "sex" thing again.

The brunette shoved his face into his hands as he gave an awkward cough, Hunter patting him on the back comfortingly in response, letting loose a small chuckle he just couldn't help. "Don't worry; you'll get there in time."

Dustin nodded, acknowledging he would while his mind moved on, pondering the question.

Spend time, warmth, best friends. The answer was kind of obvious.

_Cam_.

But also-

"…I like you," Dustin admitted, because he did. He did like hanging out with Hunter, he didn't make Dustin feel stupid (he actually made the yellow ranger feel cool) and once you got past the brooding he was really funny and nice.

It wasn't a fair competition anyway, because Dustin spent _way_ more time with Cam than with Hunter. Maybe if he spent a couple hours a day with the blond he would like him just as much, know more of him, be _really_ good friends on top of kissing and the sexing and-

Or maybe not. Dustin wouldn't know until he tried; he'd never _been_ attracted to a guy before, that he was aware of (and that was the key here wasn't it, because he was great at pretending not to think or feel things he couldn't understand, were too difficult to deal with), so what would he know?

There was this nagging feeling in the back of Dustin's head, there was something important, something he missed, something he _should_ be remembering right now but he just couldn't-

Wait.

_Cam_.

The whole reason Hunter and Dustin had even first started talking about this whole mess was because Hunter had wanted to ask _Cam_ out. And while there was a lot of things Dustin should be thinking about that concerned Hunter like: why was he making out with Dustin if he wanted Cam; and did that only mean he did it to help, or was he a cheater or- but his brain immediately overrode all those things because did that mean Cam-?

The question tumbled out, no grace, no lead in, no nothing. "Cam likes guys?"

He was staring at Hunter intently, focused completely on him, itching to grip the other teen's shoulders to shake him, but Dustin's body remained frozen, _needing_ this answer.

Hunter picked up on it, hesitating only a little before saying, "Yes."

Just, '_yes'._

Cam, Cam liked-

Dustin's heart felt all…his chest- there was a warm feeling (Hunter was not joking it was really there) and Dustin-

He never felt happier.

He didn't know why. He didn't know-

_Cam likes guys_

But-

Hunter.

_Hunter_.

The brunette's mind slowly boiled down to a quiet echo, repeating the name over and over again until it overcame the warm feeling and mixed his stomach back into a knotted mess.

It wasn't a pleasant fact, but he couldn't deny it, not when it concerned his team.

Hunter came first.

Hunter wanted Cam first, which meant that maybe Cam wanted Hunter first and even though Dustin hadn't _known-_

Why did Hunter have to kiss him? Why did he have to talk to him and do stupid things like making him understand and opening his eyes to-

Why did he have to make Dustin feel so good inside, and then just as easily make him feel like the most terrible human being that had ever walked the planet?

Dustin thought he hadn't hoped, but clearly his stupid subconscious _had_ because he was feeling…empty. And sad. He liked Hunter and he liked Cam and Dustin _thought_ Hunter liked _him_ but it was a fact he liked _Cam_ and the only way this stupid mess could work out - but it wouldn't because it was life and Dustin _knew_ lunacy _never_ worked out - was if Cam just happened to like both of them. Then they could be a happy trio and no one would be sad or crying.

Because if there had to be two, if someone had to be left out, that person would be Dustin. It had to be him because Hunter had figured everything out first. Hunter had decided what he wanted and set out to get it which was reasonable, but it didn't leave any room for the extra guy on the side who just found out they were gay and had warm feelings for Cam. It wasn't Hunter's fault that Dustin would get left out, just like it wasn't Hunter's fault that he was cool and mysterious and a good kisser that snarked with Cam all the time. It wasn't Hunter's fault that he and Cam were just like every bantering couple in a romantic comedy that were so obviously made for each other.

There was no way Dustin could come between that. There was no way he could fight for Cam or Hunter because he _liked_ his friends and he wanted them to be happy and if that meant he didn't get to be a part of what they had, then so be it.

He would be sad and yes, he would still be dreaming up that happy ending for all of them, where they could all be together. If there was anything Dustin was good at it was forcing his way into normal things and making them _not_ normal, because he was Dustin Brooks, yellow ranger, so obviously-

…so obviously _not_ normal.

And then it _really_ hit him.

"_Dude_," Dustin mumbled, eyes wide at the sudden realization. "That's perfect."

Hunter, who had been sitting and quietly watching his face go from happy/sad/thoughtful/enlightened perked up at the brunette's vocalizations, happy for any kind of communication.

"What?"

"I like you _and_ I like Cam." Dustin explained, almost giddy (a manly giddy of _manliness_) and he looked at Hunter eagerly. "And clearly you like Cam and you- Wait, do you like-?"

Because clearly a lot of this was based on the assumption that if Hunter was down with making out with him he might actually like _him_ a little and-

The lips were back again, and Dustin almost kept talking but the hand was back in his hair so he just sighed into it, enjoying the attention.

Hunter pulled back slowly, eyes intent, and Dustin nodded slowly.

"Yeah, so you like me." That was _awesome_. "So, uh, if Cam likes both of us we could all totally date."

It was a big step. It was a stupid one too, and there was a small voice in the back of Dustin's head sounding suspiciously like Tori that kept telling him to slow down, to ease into it, to think about what was going on and accept and stop running into things full throttle without letting everything sink in properly but he just couldn't. Not when everything was so crazy all of the time. This was a huge _thing_ for Dustin to deal with and he probably shouldn't be trying to date people until the dust had settled and he had- time to get used to it, maybe? He should wait, but life was sort of passing him by here. Any day Lothor could decide he didn't like Blue Bay Harbor so much and just blow it off the face of the world, so the way Dustin figured it; he had to take this opportunity while it was there. While he could.

It would be scary, dating people after he had thought it was a hopeless cause for so long, and it would probably be different because…well, _guys_, but Dustin wanted it.

Maybe tomorrow he would be freaking out, but right now, he wanted it.

Hunter blinked at him slowly, trying to make sense of what he had just heard while simultaneously trying to cover it up. He started up again slowly, still gently stroking Dustin's hair. "I don't think you understand how dating works."

Oh no, no, not this guy. See, Dustin _thought_ he didn't know how dating worked, or he thought he _did_ know, and then Hunter filled him in with crazy things that actually weren't that crazy, so why should this be any different?

The yellow ranger didn't back down, puffing up his chest slightly as he defended his argument. "No way man, you already like, blew my mind today." Blew it, blown it, it was gone. "And from what I've gathered…we're not normal people right? Most people don't train so they can be better at fighting evil space ninjas, so why should we date like normal not-fighters of evil space ninjas?"

_Yeah, suck on that logic popsicle why don't yah?_

He almost thought that Hunter was going to disagree with him, to insist that his way was right and Dustin was still way wrong, but instead the blond tilted his head and looked off to the side thoughtfully.

And just like that, Dustin knew he had won.

"I see no faults with this argument."

Because there weren't any; his plan was faultless.

"See, see, it's awesome!" Dustin shouted, jumping up enthusiastically and pumping his fist into the air. "Now, all we have to do is go convince Cam that there is no way he can deny our totally hot studliness."

He couldn't, there was no way this wouldn't work. Dustin already knew from past experience that if you tag-teamed Cam, certain victory was almost assuredly yours (as long as it didn't involve any of his computers/the zords/his uniform…okay, so there were a _few_ things he stood up against).

Excited and happy and delighted and a million other things (terrified, terrified was a great deal of those many other things), Dustin ran about the kitchen picking up all of the soaking towels and throwing them carelessly in the general direction of the sink before he dashed out of the room to grab his keys. He was back in the kitchen in less than ten seconds (new record without streaking) sliding towards his table in two, grabbing up his cell phone and wallet and quickly making his way towards the door.

Once his hand hit the doorknob he paused, glancing over his shoulder at the amused Hunter who was still standing beside the island.

"Hey," he began, cheerful smile unabashedly bright on his face. "You ready to storm the castle?"

The grin Hunter gave him in response pretty much answered that question, not timid, not doubting, not in any way humoring, but a hundred percent on board with Dustin's plan.

It was enough to let Dustin think this _just_ might work. Just possibly.

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><p>Endnotes:<p>

Hey, so…not dead.

Yeah, not dead. That's about all I've got.

And also, a big thank you to Rogue for reviewing the last chapter. See, you didn't even have to wait for another Spring Break to come around for a new update! Look at me, so ahead of schedule :D

Until next time.


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